Pokemon, The Crobat Chronicles 2: Johto
by J-The-Legend
Summary: Directly following after Crobat Chronicles: Kanto. Joe and Ralph have traveled to Johto to train and catch new pokemon, yet their journey is still far from over. The shadows of Team Rocket has not faded away and their leader is up to something sinister. Legendary wheels are set in motion, but who do they turn for? Only some know what is coming, but whatever it is it's big!
1. Chapter 1: A New Region

**It's back. Joe, Winter and Ralph are back for another adventure. For those of you who haven't read or finished reading The Crobat Chronicles: Kanto I would recommend reading that first so that events mentioned in this story don't confuse. I will try to make them easier to understand for those of you who didn't read the previous story. Hope you like this continuation, parts of it will get darker and, of course, since we're in a new region, there'll be new team members, friends, allies, enemies and threats to face. Overall I'm going to add a lot more to this story to make it more adult and more dark, yet still light and friendly overall.**

 **Hope you all enjoy this first chapter which will introduce the plot, characters and world for you all. Any advice, reviews or friendly comments you have to give are welcomed. Anything anyone can give to help me improve my writing is all for the good. Like I said I hope you enjoy and follow for more chapters soon.**

 **J Out!**

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 **Disclaimer: This story is set in a separate universe to the Anime, Manga and Videogame series of pokémon. It is partially based off of the games Gold/Silver/Crystal and the remakes, HeartGold/SoulSilver with various differences. Multiple characters from the games and anime may have altered story lines or completely different ones to the original. These changes have been made to allow the story depth and character, as well as keep it interesting. Unlike the previous book this story is majorly based of events in the games rather then the TV series. Plots and Subplots will get darker as the story goes on. Reader discretion is advised.**

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 **The Previous Night...**

In the shrouded black of midnight everything is hidden. A man wearing the right colour clothing, standing against the right cloudless background, hiding behind the right area of scenery can become completely invisible. For animals and Pokémon it is usually much easier to stay hidden. The ones born for the night are naturally able to hide in it. They wear purple or black hides and move quick and sneakily within its cloak embrace. Human beings are not naturally designed for this location, if fact they are imperfect towards it. At this time they usually sleep. Yet on this specific day one small town is wide awake, alert and panicking. The date is September the 27th and in the night a figure runs away. They speed on, not hidden in the dark but more blurred by it. They know what they are doing. They know where they are going. They dash on and on, their heels kicking up the track under their feet. Behind them lights turn on in the town. There's shouting, lanterns flickering, slamming of front doors opened. Cries of grief, pain, shock, anger and sadness echo around the land. It had finally happened. Someone had run away. For the last week or so the town had been pestered by word that a gang of criminals from Kanto had moved into the region. It was said they were taking people in the night, not through force but persuasion, never to be heard from again. Some towns had apparently even seen black clothed men outside the walls, luring in thugs and criminals into their illegal ring. But no one had truly believed the rumours here. There hadn't been any proof. But now it was clear that something was indeed happening. A child had run away from home. No one could believe it was true, but sadly it was. First the thefts and now kidnapping. The cries of grief echoed over the hillside and forests, reaching the ears of the figure. They stopped, looking back at their home. In the distance the town lights flickered like fireflies of the earth. In their arms a small, blue, long eared, bauble tailed rabbit creature sat cuddled up. It looked confused and concerned. A slightly worried yelp escaped from its lips. The figure shushed it, quietly. Then she hurried on again, away from home and towards her destination. She was going to meet someone. A very immoral, unkind, sadistic, cruel someone.

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 **The Following Morning...**

The next day was innocent. It was midday, around twelve o'clock. Pidgeys tweeted in the scattered trees. Rattata rustled around in the bushes. Butterfree flutter across fields of flowers, gathering pollen into small leg sacks and whipping up petals with gusts from their wings. And down the road of route 27 two people walked. One of them was a young 13 year old teenage boy wearing a black and blue hoodie with a grey t-shirt underneath and a set of blue jeans, red trainers and a black open-top hat. On his shirt was the logo of two crossed bird wings. His name was Joseph Derek Arthur Glende, but he preferred being called Joe for short. He was a Kanto boy in origin and had grown up on his uncle's farm by Pallet Town, but currently he was in Johto because he had already collected all the badges from that region. After defeating the Elite Four and battling his best friend, who had just become the newest region champion, he had taken a month off to rest. Now he was in Johto and he was starting an all new adventure in a completely different region. On his pokeball belt were two pokeballs; one was a simple red and white ball, the other was a unique pure white ball with a red outline. The origin of which was still blurred. While the red one had a Pokémon currently resting in it, the white ball was, as of now, empty, yet not vacant. Beside him walked a young teenage girl of around the same age. She was wearing more suitable autumnal attire, consisting of a warm dark green coat, pale cargo trousers and walking trainers. Her long ginger hair was tied up in a short ponytail at the back of her head, leaving a long wave flowing over both her shoulders. Her name was Winter Kitoshi. Both she and Joe had travelled together in Kanto and had become close friends, though not instantly. Their first meeting was slightly embarrassing. They had run into each other after Joe had tripped on a tree root on his way to Viridian Town and he had rolled into her, knocking her over too. After a quick argument they had ended up heading to the Pokémon centre where they were taken hostage by a couple of criminals and locked in a janitor's closet. After they broke out they called the police and stopped the thieves. They quickly found that they made a great duo together, though Joe did a lot more of the battling and Winter did a lot more of the thinking. He didn't truly know what Winter got out of their friendship. She didn't battle very often, even though she was good at it, and she didn't really research or study Pokémon either. She probably just enjoyed the traveling and company. They glanced at each other, their excited smiles worn down a little but still there. They had been walking for a few hours now and they were still going. Apparently they could still reach New Bark town before the evening was out. That morning the two of them had left Kanto for the first and last time. They had waved goodbye to their family and friends they had met and made during their travels. Joe had said his goodbye to most of his Pokémon and to his Uncle, the only family he had known. There had been one other family member he had met in his travels, but it hasn't been as nice as one might expect. During his finally battle with Team Rocket, Joe had learned who his father was. He wasn't too keen on talking about him. He hadn't even told Winter, his best friend, about him. He didn't know what she'd think off him. Instead he had decided to keep quiet, hushing it up and never letting his friend know the truth. He felt it was better that way. Joe and Winter fell into step, walking right foot over left and pushing along with their souls. They has been silent for the last hour or so now, having run out of things to talk about. There was only so much you could say about the grass or the sky or the weather before it got so boring your rather listen to static. Under their feet small stones kicked along. The crunch of gravel and dirt filled the air for them. And then the natural silence of travel was broken by someone finally speaking.

"So." Said Winter. Her calm, upbeat, slightly high pitch voice was a grateful breaking of the unsocial, not exactly embarrassed but still awkward, ice of silence. Joe looked at her, hopefully. They had been quiet for so long he'd almost forgotten that they both had vocal chords and tongues. She gave a small smile at him, her walking speed slowing a little so they weren't traveling too fast. They wanted to have time to talk with. They didn't want to arrive too quickly to spoil the conversation. "What's the plan for this region then?" She asked finally. The pause in between had felt like a millennium. In fact it had hardly been three seconds long. Joe pointed down the path they headed along.

"Well, to start with, we actually need to reach a city." He explained simply. He was making up his plan now. He had no idea what he would actually do. He had imagined he'd probably do the same things he had done during their travel in Kanto. "New Bark town is at the end of the route, I believe. From there we should be able to head north to Cherrygrove City. From then on we'll be taking on gym leaders and training up to fight."

"That doesn't sound too assertive." Winter said. "Were you considering to catch any new pokemon by any chance?"

"Yes. Were you?"

"Of course."

"Good. Good." There was silence again.

"Do you even know what it is we're dealing with here?" Winter asked. Joe seemed taken aback by this comment.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, you stopped Team Rocket back in Kanto, but that was over a month ago. Archer escaped, remember. Supposedly he came here. What if he's been preparing over all this time? If he had an army back home, he could already have built one here. Do you think that the two of us could take him and the whole of Team Rocket out by ourselves?" Joe shrugged.

"We did last time." Winter rubbed her forehead.

"Yes, but last time Giovanni dropped in and sorted it out. This time he said he won't. Archer destroyed you when you tried to fight him, so what exactly do you plan to..."

"Winter, I get what you're saying thanks!" Joe interrupted, stopping suddenly and looking at her. It was embarrassing how he'd been defeated. It hadn't been instant but the fact was Archer had been just too strong to stop. His Pokémon were twice the power that his had been at. While he knew Winter wasn't picking on him about it, she didn't truly respect how annoying it was to be reminded of it. She stopped and stared back. "I know I should think about all that, because it is true he could come back. Hell, Mew popped up in my dream just to tell me that. But the problem is we don't know how strong he is or if he even has an army yet. We can't prepare for anything we don't know about. Besides, I only have two Pokémon in my team. I need to catch more." Winter was about to raise a finger and suggest that he begin with that now, but quickly changed her mind. There was a quiet 'Fwoosh' from behind Joe. Four purple wings spread out behind him.

"Ralph's back" Winter said, not concerned in the slightest. Joe turned around and found himself looking into the happy expression of a large, young, purple skinned, four winged bat. He jumped back in surprised. A second later he sighed and smiled at the thing.

"Ralph!" He snapped, trying to hide his smile. "I told you not to do that! You're going to give me a heart attack!" The bat laughed.

Ralph was a Crobat. Crobats weren't very common among Pokémon trainers, let alone in the wild, but Joe and Ralph's relationship was an interesting one. They had first met three months ago to the day outside of Pallet Town in Kanto, when Joe had seen him being attacked by a bunch of beedrill during the night and tried to protect him. Since then they had become inseparable, being the strongest trainer/Pokémon duo the region had seen in years. But that had been back in Kanto. Johto was apparently a much tougher market for trainers. Still, the two of them felt they could deal with whatever came along to face them. Ralph smiled at him, still laughing and chuckling to himself. Joe's smile disappeared a little as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Not because he was nervous, but because he'd been taken by surprise.

"He must have done that to you a million times..." Winter chuckled. "Yet still you're surprised every time. It's almost comical." Joe turned his expression towards her, looking quite unsurprising and relatively teased.

"Don't encourage him!" He said. She fell quiet, her smile slowly disappearing but still showing a hint of amusement.

"Sorry." She muttered quietly. Joe turned back to Ralph who was calming down a little.

"You see anything on the path from above?" He asked. Ralph nodded, his smile turning to a simple small grin. He pointed his right wing down the path, bowling it in a wave like motion. "There's water ahead?" Joe tried to translate. Ralph nodded. "How much." Ralph struggled to find a way to say 'A lot'. In the end he went with holding both his top wings up in a lifting stance. Joe hummed in understanding.

"I hope there's a bridge we can cross over it." Winter added. "I'm not exactly in the right mood to swim there." Joe looked at her in relative surprise.

"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that." Winter shrugged.

"Hey, I'm tired. I've been walking for ages. I'm not exactly in the mood to spend the rest of the walk wading through water"

"I thought that, being a water type trainer, swimming was something you considered essential."

"Doesn't mean I have to do it all the time." Ralph coughed, trying to interrupt the conversation before it turned into an argument and got heated. Joe and winter looked at him. He stared back at them, his expression annoyed.

"We should probably get going then…" Joe interrupted himself, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, we… we should get… get going." Winter agreed, stuttering a little. Ralph rolled his eyes as his trainer and friend continued walking down the path. Humans. They seemed to really enjoy pointless arguing. It always amazed Ralph just how much Joe and Winter just talked rather than actually get anything done. It was almost ridiculous. He followed after them, flying low and slow, trying to enjoy the scenery around him.

And there was a lot of new scenery to see. So far from what the group had seen, Johto was an amazing looking place. As they walked they saw more forest getting closer from the north and flat open fields to the west and east. Johto in fact didn't look too different from Kanto, but that was to be expected. They were neighbouring regions after all. Even the Pokémon were similar. Pidgeys and spearows nested in the trees, beedrill and butterfree fluttered around within and by the edge of the nearby woods, in the grass rattata, oddish and ekans played, dug and ate and, as they travelled they reached a small river with psyduck and krabby waddling around on the sand and goldeen and magikarp splashing about in the shallow water. But there were also a variety of new and unusual looking Pokémon to be seen on the walk. One that Joe spotted for a second was a long, stripped, furry, weasel like creature which was scurrying through the grass with a happy-go-lucky smile on its face. It jumped out of the long grass, landed on all fours, groomed itself for a seconds, and then jumped back into the long grass, its fluffy tail the last thing to disappear behind the waving sea of green. As Joe and Winter walked and Ralph flew further along the path they eventually reached the water's edge which Ralph had spotted from above. It wasn't much more than a medium sized stream at the point they came across it but as they followed the path west it grew out, turning into a large straight river. The path followed it west, heading further into Johto. From here the trees and fields were replaced with a large Cliffside following the rest of the path. In-between it and the road was about 10 kilometres of long grass which rustled from time to time. Quickly the ground disappeared into the water leaving them confronted with a long area of open water. Fortunately for Winter there was a bridge for them to cross with. She was quite relieved by that small detail. Joe had to admit he was grateful too. His legs and back were already aching a little from the hours of walking.

As they walked Joe's mind drifted back to that morning, when he'd said his goodbyes to his uncle and friends. He had stood in front Walker, his uncle kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. He remembered what he had told him. About staying safe. About taking care of his friends. About being careful of the possible Team Rocket return. But, most vividly, the last words he had told him stuck in his mind. 'Legends are not born'. That had always been a moto of his uncles. He used it as a way to remind himself that any greatness a person achieves is made by themselves, not by fate. Joe assumed it was his way of saying that he was in charge of his own choices. But was he really? As far as he could tell everything that had happened to him within his time as a trainer had all been planned out in some way or another? Most of it by a legendary no less. Did he really have any control over what had happened or would happen? What was certain was that something was definitely going down and, whatever the events of their Kanto adventure would lead to here, it was liable to happen relatively soon and involve him into it somewhere, even if he didn't want a part in it. His attention was suddenly snapped back to the present when Winter stopped and held him back with a hand.

"Look." She said quietly. Joe looked at her.

"What are we…" He tried.

"Shush!" She hissed, looking back at him. She slowly pointed towards the water's edge a few metres ahead of them. In a small area of water a collection of bubbles were rising up to the surface and popping in the wake of new bubbles. At the centre of the bubbles was a small blue ball floating simply and motionlessly in the water. Joe looked at the strange and unusual site.

"What is that?" He asked quietly. Winter shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know." She told him.

"Is that a Pokémon doing that?"

"Not one I know of or have seen before." Joe turned to her again.

"Well you know of most water Pokémon. Do any of them blow bubbles like that? Maybe goldeen or psyduck?" He continued. Again Winter shook her head.

"No. Some of them blow bubbles but that blue ball in the middle…" Her sentence was cut off suddenly with the disappearance of the bubbles. The blue bauble bobbed up and down slowly. Then it began swaying left and right, the movements growing stronger and stronger. Something small was rising up out of the water. The bauble moved to the left and a long, thin, jagged tail rose out with it. Then two large round ears grew out of the water, twitching in the air with blue fur running down the back. Then the top of a round head followed after it. Then the rest of the circular body, finishing with a pair of small blue feet stepping onto the mud. Joe and Winter's expressions went from confusion and integument to, what can only be described as, adoring. Even Ralph gave an audible 'Aw' at the sight of this new Pokémon. It certainly wasn't a Kanto Pokémon, because if it was then they would have recognised it on sight, it was such a unique looking creature. Its round body was covered in light watery blue fur except for the stomach area which was white. Surprisingly enough it looked completely dry, especially considering it had just stepped out of the river. It patted the fur on its stomach with two short stumpy arms and blinked water out of its small, black dot eyes. Technically it didn't have a head as its face was on the top of its perfectly circular body. It sniffed the air with its small button nose and chewed on a berry it had grabbed from under the water, half of it poking out from the small jaw. Its tail somehow stayed erect behind its back, waving around as its balance moved from left to right. The small blue aquatic mouse walked up the muddy bank, pulled itself onto the bridge and waddled happily across the wooden planks, not even noticing the two trainers and large purple bat standing only a few metres away and watching it keenly. The three of them blinked in surprising synchronisation.

"What Pokémon is that?" Joe asked quietly. Winter shrugged, just as surprised.

"I have no idea." She said simply. They turned to Ralph. He shrugged as best he could while staying airborne. How did they expect him to know what it was? They looked back at the blue mouse thing. Then it caught sight of them. It stared at them with big round eyes and a confused face. Surprisingly it didn't seem scared at all of them, not even of Ralph who was scary enough on his own

"I think we should check the pokédex." Joe told her.

"Good idea." She agreed. Winter reached into her bag and pulled out her own personal pokédex. She switched it on, flicked open the lid covering the front screen and picked an option reading 'Who's that pokémon?' It was a childish title put in so that young children would understand what it did when chosen. As the name suggests, this applications purpose is to display basic information about a seen pokémon that the trainer has just found. In Kanto Joe and Winter hadn't needed to worry about using it because they recognised pretty much all the Kanto registered pokémon beforehand due to stories, documentaries, TV shows and kids almanacs on them. The more scientific name for this app would be 'What am I looking at?' She clicked on the app. It opened up a small screen and a camera shot of what was in front of them. Winter pointed it at the still staring, still motionless aquatic creature on the bridge ahead. The screen flashed and made a buzzing scanning sound. On the screen an image began to disintegrate onto it. It was the creature in front of them, except standing in profile with a smile rather than standing ahead of them with a still thoughtful face. Then words rolled along the top. 'This pokémon is…?'

"Great, our pokedex's don't even know what it is." Joe muttered, a little irritated.

"Well what do you want to do? We could just ignore it and walk by…" Winter told him. Joe scoffed.

"Screw that! This is the first pokémon I've come across from this region. I'm going to catch it!" At the sound of this Ralph jumped into action, flapping his wings frantically and smiling like an excited puppy. Joe stepped forwards and Ralph followed. Ralph went to attack. "Ralph, stop a second." Joe called. Ralph froze in mid-flight, hardly having moved a metre from where he originally had been. "I don't think you should do this one, this time." He explained. Ralph looked upset. He went to ask why when Joe told him. "You're probably too powerful for it. You might not it out before it can be caught, or worse, scare it away. I want Pippy to take this one. You can have a rest for now." Ralph frowned. He understood his trainers reasoning but he could have been nicer about it. He wasn't that scary, was he? Ralph obeyed his friends request and re-joined Joe's side, watching the event as it unfurled. Joe patted him on the head. "Thanks, buddy." Ralph huffed, not terribly happy but he didn't cause a fuss.

"Try not to destroy the bridge while you're at it." Winter called from behind. Joe nodded.

"Sorry. Can't promise anything." He told her. He reached for his normal pokeball and unclipped it from his belt, holding in his hand. With a flick of the wrist he sent the cue ball sized device flying through the air. "Go, Pippy!" He called. The ball snapped open and out came a small, fuzzy, yellow furred, brown striped, energetic, upbeat, static covered, male pikachu. Pippy blinked, looked around, saw the opposing blue mouse, which now looked quite astounded, and grinned. "Alright, Pippy, this is a game of catching. We want that thing to stay standing long enough to be caught." Pippy yapped and nodded, confirming that he understood. "Ok then. Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged up static and released, sending a long, sharp bolt of static flying at the new pokémon. Its eyes widened in surprise and it jumped aside, narrowly avoiding getting struck. It rolled along the wooden planks and hid behind a small wooden pole at the edge of the bridge.

"Don't let it get to the water!" Winter told Joe.

"Shock it, Pippy! Stop it moving!" Joe instructed. Pippy charged more static and released it in a much weaker yet more potent, smaller bolt. The bolt hit the wooden post and shattered it, sending wooden splinters flying everywhere. Several landed in the water, causing a couple of golden to bob up and see what was going on. All that was left of the small post was a cracked charred top about half the size of the original and split down the centre, more splinters sticking out of it. The pokémon looked even more surprised as its cover ruptured and disappeared. It looked at Pippy who walked a little closer, looking keen and excited. The pokémon smiled at him awkwardly, trying, Joe assumed, to look unthreatening. Pippy smiled back. Then he fired another bolt of static. The small round mouse jumped aside again. This time it got up much quicker and began to roll forwards, rotating like a spinning ball and heading straight for Pippy. "Look out!" Joe called. Pippy jumped over the rolling ball of blue mouse as it passed under him. He turned to fight it, only to receive a flurry of bubbles in his face upon doing so. The bubbles popped all over him and hurt him. The wild blue water mouse laughed at the caught yellow electric mouse. Pippy growled at it. Without warning he jumped on the creature, landing on its fat stomach and knocking it over. He pinned it down and tackled it, head-butting it several times in the chest. The blue mouse growled and rolled over, now lying on top of Pippy and hitting him in the chest with its head. They rolled about, tackling one another for a while and making progress further and further down the bridge, away from the trainers watching. "Pippy, where are you going?" Joe called as he, Ralph and Winter ran after the two fighting mice.

"Tell him to shock it now!" Winter called after him. Joe saw Pippy being pinned by the pokémon, trying to push back against it but it was proving to strong and too heavy to hold back. It was smiling down at him, an overpowering glint in its eyes. It was on top. It had the advantage. Now was probably the time to cheat.

"Pippy, use thunder wave!" Joe called. Pippy looked at him from where he lay, surprised by his command. He nodded. He pushed up with his small yellow arms, touched the pokémon on the neck… and then there was a flash of white.

"Maaaaarill" The pokémon cried as it suddenly fell very still. All its limbs seized up into place, leaving it paralysed on top of Pippy. Its expression could be best surprised as severe astonishment. Pippy rolled it to the side, finally freeing himself from its weight, where it lay, unmoving yet still conscious. Pippy sighed, whipped his brow and turned to Joe who was walking up to him. Joe lent down, held out his arm and let Pippy climb up it. "Good job, buddy. You still got it!" Pippy yapped and smiled at him. He rubbed his head on Joe's shoulder, creating a few static sparks with the friction. Joe smiled at him. It had been a while since both Pippy and Ralph had been in a battle, let alone caught a pokémon. It was good to see them both getting time out to exercise and simply travel. Joe reached into his bag and pulled out an empty. "Time to end that little scrap." He said. And he threw the pokeball. It fell out of the air, tapped the paralysed mouse on the stomach and sucked it inside with a flash of red light and a snap shut of the lid. The ball hit the ground and shook once, twice, thrice then stopped, ending with a click. Joe smiled, Ralph cheered, Pippy sparked and Winter also smiled.

"Good job." She told him. "I must admit I was a bit worried it might take Pippy out at one point." Joe smiled back at her.

"He was never in any danger." He told her. He looked at the happy yellow mouse on his shoulder. "Where you, buddy?" Pippy yapped and smiled, agreeing. Ralph patted Joe on the shoulder and Pippy on the back, nearly knocking him off by accident. "I just caught myself my first Johto pokémon." Joe reminded himself as he picked up the now full pokeball and held it on his palm. "Now our journey here has really begun. I wander what other pokémon we'll come across here?"

"Does your pokédex say anything more about it?" Winter asked. Joe opened his bag up and pulled out his pokédex to check. He flicked it open and switched it on.

"No." He told her after checking the latest entry. "It made a page for it, but there's no name. Only basic information. Apparently it's a water type."

"I thought it was. It did look like one." Winter agreed. "Also did you hear what it cried when Pippy paralysed? It said something like 'Marill'" Joe looked at her.

"You think that's what pokémon it is?" Joe asked. Winter nodded.

"Pokémon speech sounds like the pokémon saying its own name, so it stands to reason that this one does the same." Joe looked down at the pokeball and smiled.

"So you're a marill then." He said to himself.

"You going to nickname it?" Winter asked. Joe smiled at her.

"Of course." He said. He paused. "What could I nickname a marill?" He wondered. Because this was a new pokémon to him, he hadn't really thought of any names he could give it if he caught it. Instead of basing one on its name he'd have to do so on his type. He thought for a second. 'Marill is a water type. Water comes from rivers, lakes, ponds, streams and the ocean. Winter has two pokémon called River and Stream so they're out, Ocean sounds a bit silly for a mouse and Lake and Pond are just lazy. Hmm' Then he thought a bit harder. 'Maybe we could make ocean work. Another word for ocean is sea. Sea, in French, translates to Mer. No, that doesn't sound good. Ah, but the Spanish word for sea is Mar. That sounds good. I like that. Plus it fits in with the pokémon name. Mar. Marill. Mar-ill. I could just call it Barrel. No, Mar is good.' "What about Mar?" Joe asked finally. Winter woke up from the world she had drifted off to.

"Sorry?" She asked.

"I think I should name him Mar, as in the sea." Joe explained. She seemed to digest the name for a few seconds.

"Why Mar?" She asked.

"I don't know. I just thought it suited it. Mar the Marill." Joe smiled. "I like it." He told her. He turned to Ralph. "What do you think, buddy?" He asked. Ralph shrugged.

"Cro?" He said. Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"O…kay?" Joe said, unsure if he had understood what Ralph's response was or not. "Well, if neither of you oppose, then I guess his name shall be Mar." He held up the pokeball like a beacon to the heavens, as if he was baptising it. Then he attached it to his belt and reached for Pippy's pokeball. "Ok, you've had your fun. Now it's time for you to go back in as well." Pippy moaned sadly. Miserably he nodded and climbed down Joe's arm, touched the pokeball button and was withdrawn back inside. Joe attached the pokeball back to his belt and began to walk again.

"Well, apart from that battle just there, this journey so far has been relatively easy and boring." Winter mused as she followed after him. Joe chuckled, considering this. In comparison to everything he had been through, this was just a walk in the park, quite literally. So far in his less than half a year journey he'd fought of a swarm of beedrill, stopped a couple of criminals stealing from a pokémon centre, rescued his own pokémon from a fearow, stopped a dangerous argument between superheroes, protected a day-care, defeated a gang, stopped the takeover of a cruise ship, survived a cave-in, lost a pokémon, helped appease a vengeful ghost, stopped an attack on Pallet Town, defeated two Team Rocket commanders several times, confronted the leader of Team Rocket on top of Silph Co building and nearly won, defeated eight gym leaders, beaten all members of the elite four and won against the newest champion of the Kanto region. And within all that he had still declined his offer. But all of that had happened exactly one month ago.

"Yeah." He agreed. "I just hope it doesn't stay this way for long. I like a challenge now and then." In the overall world view this comment was a really stupid thing to say. It's basically a cliché. Philosophers, intellectuals, film critics and all-around smart folk will tell you this and they'll always give the same reasoning for not saying it. Wishing for something not to happen will always make it happen! And when it does happen you won't enjoy it as much as you think you will!

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

"Through here." A tall, calm voiced, slightly muscular grunt shoved open the thin metal door into the locker room and walked inside. Crystal followed after him, feeling and looking nervous about where she was standing. So this was her new home. She hadn't expected much from Team Rocket but she'd expected something more than this. The locker room was tatty and unkempt, with rusty red stone walls, a cracked, mossy, dry tiled floor, a roof with rot and timber hanging out from multiple gaping holes in the plaster and row upon row of old, fragile looking metal sports lockers. She gulped. She had run away from home for this? The grunt saw her expression. "Nervous?" he asked. "Don't worry. It's not so bad. You get used to it all. The clutter isn't too bad on most days." She stepped back slightly, still looking at the piles of moss in the corners and the untidy clumps of casual clothing lying on rotting wooden benches.

"It's not actually the room that concerns me. She explained. "Do both men and women change together? Are there no private changing rooms?" The grunt laughed at this.

"Ha. You've nothing to fear. The chances of you being assaulted while changing are only 5:1 now." She looked at him. "I was joking." He added, seeing her shocked expression. She seemed to lighten up a little. She still looked quite unsure, however. Maybe it was the fact she was a fourteen year old girl surrounded by a bunch of young, violent, malicious, angry men who could willingly take advantage of her whenever they liked. It had amazed everyone, even the commander himself, when a young girl turned up in the middle of the night, asking to join up immediately. That was something that was never expected to happen. Maybe if she'd been a boy it wouldn't have been as surprising. But either way she had been taken in. It was too good an opportunity to pass on. Who knew when a teenage girl would come in useful. Besides, they needed all the recruits they could get right now.

"Can I at least get a quota on how much I'll be paid?" She asked after a short pause. The grunt looked at her. She reminded him in a way of his own daughter. He wondered where she was right now.

"Five-hundred pokedollars per week" He said finally. She seemed a little disappointed but said nothing. That was probably wise. Complaining was not something you did in Team Rocket. Anyone who lasted long in Team Rocket saw what happened to the people who complained and quickly learned that it was never a good idea. His leadership could get very angry and sometimes he needed target practice. He also didn't use a gun for the sport. "Well, I'll leave you to yourself then." The grunt said finally, stepping back to the door and holding it open. Crystal turned back to him.

"W-what... W-where do I get my uniform and locker from?" She stumbled. The grunt sighed and pointed around the room.

"Pick one that isn't already taken. You're alone in here right now so if you should get into your uniform quickly. All grunts are to meet up in the announcement hall in twenty minutes exactly. Don't take too long." And he slammed the door shut behind him. Crystal scratched the side of her head, curling a strand of black hair around her finger.

"Rrright." She looked back at the rows of lockers. Most of them seemed to be taken already. She walked down the furthest row to the left, reading all the labels on the locker doors and recoiling at some of the revolting nicknames poorly scrawled on. Finally she found a free locker, tightly squeezed in between 'Big Rick Rollson' and 'Halitosis Harry'. She twisted the key and pulled it open. Inside was a simple Team Rocket Grunt uniform, complete with black boots, gloves, belt and sack bag. She reached for her pocket and pulled out a lone single pokeball. She rolled it over in her hand. She had been grateful that their leader had let her hold on to her pokemon when she joined. It had required some convincing but eventually she had won him over. She wasn't going anywhere without her closest friend. She flicked the ball up into the air and it snapped open with a subtle click. From the red beam of light jumped out a long eared, blue bodied, white bubble patterned, big eyed, big hearted, bauble tailed rabbit pokemon called Azumarill. The small pokemon didn't hop about as a watcher may have expected it to. Instead it just stood at Crystal's feet, looking up at her in concern.

"Zu?" It asked. She smiled at it.

"Morning, Azi." She said to it. Azi nudged her leg, smiling weekly. He was cheering up a little now. His right eye was a slightly lighter then it should have been. From the eyebrow to cheek bone ran a thin yet painful looking old scar scab. She sighed. "Stay calm and stay quiet for now." She explained to him. "I need to get into this uniform and then we're going outside for an announcement. Do you want to come along?" Azi nodded, but he didn't look happy. Yet nor did he look upset. He looked concerned. Crystal looked back into the locker, staring at the uniform. She could still back out. She could still turn away. No one would stop her. She was free to go. The question was did she want to? Her expression narrowed as she stared at the uniform. Slowly she reached in and pulled the thin, black jumpsuit out from its metal holder.

A few minutes later she walked out through the locker room door, wearing her Team Rocker getup, loosely. It felt very uncomfortable. It didn't exactly make her look revealing but it made her feel like what she did have was being made to stand out way too much for someone her age and was also quite tight and it itched like mad. It had hardly been aired at all since its making. Still, she wore it with pride... Well maybe pride wasn't the right word. It was more along the lines of similarity then it was honor. Team Rocket was not honorable. As she walked out she looked down the corridor, glancing down both ends. A couple of grunts walked past her, whispering something about new recruits and an announcement in the announcement hall before walking of towards the right end. Quickly Crystal waved for Azi to follow her and the two of the followed, heading for where they assumed the announcement hall would be. As it turned out she was in luck. She turned a corner a few metres on and found herself standing in the large town hall like building. From the roof hang fake glass chandeliers, their half melted candles glowing damply in the air. Any lower down of the room was tough to make out from behind the huge crowd of grunts in front of her. Their was the echo of multiple chattering from pretty much everyone in the room. Crystal looked down at Azumarill. He looked back up at her. They shared the same expression of surprise and awe. Then she heard someone calling her. She caught sight of a hand waving at her above the crowd, followed by the face of the grunt who'd brought her in earlier.

"Hey, you, freshmen. Over here." He called, waving her over to him. Crystal looked a little unsure but she didn't stay put. She took Azi's hand and pulled him along with her as she tried to reach the grunt by pushing her way through the crowd. There were several angry grumbles from grunts as she pushed her way through. One even swore at her, saying something about 'The bloody kids these days' Finally she reached the grunt who was tall enough to see over the head of the crowd.

"What is it?" She asked. He didn't look at her.

"The leader's going to be giving us our first announcements, today. I think he's planning to set us up with our first jobs." He explained, almost hypnotically. Then his head turned, looking past Crystal and at someone behind her. "Get away there, Baxter. Give the girl space." He snapped. Crystal turned to see a pudgy looking, short, older grunt looming over her, a subtly surprised grin on his face.

"Who's dis, Danning?" he demanded, a creepily sickening toothed smile on his face, revealing two rows of rotten yellow fangs.

"She's one of the new recruits, Bax." The grunt Crystal had met, Danning, told the fat grunt, Baxter, not letting his guard down. He clearly didn't trust this new grunt, Baxter. Crystal felt that she shouldn't do so either. She stepped away.

"I-I'm C-c-crystal." She stuttered. Baxter straightened up.

"Crystal, eh?" He repeated, scratching his stubble coated chin. "Wat a luvly name. Watz a gal like yous doin inna place like dis?" He snarled at her with a worryingly cheeky tone. Danning stepped forward now, standing surprisingly tall and menacing.

"Leave her alone, Baxter." He warned. "Don't you have other people to bother or little children to eat? Where's your other half at?" Baxter stepped back, seeing the warning displace that Danning was making. He spat.

"Gah! Gilbert's down at der front. He wanz a catch everythin' der boss guy sez. I couldn't really care less ta be honest wit ya. Iz all politics an' stuff. Borin', all of it."

"Well maybe you could care about sorting out your grammar." Crystal muttered under her breath. Unfortunately Baxter heard her.

"What'chu sayin'?" He asked, his smile washing off like mud from a windscreen. Crystal gulped, suddenly realizing her own stupidity. Fortunately Danning came in to her rescue.

"Drop it, Bax. We don't need a fight. Let her go. She's only a child. She'll learn." He glanced back at Crystal, looking quite unhappy with her. Baxter grumbled.

"Well, see dat she does. Li'l tyke oughta be taught a less'n. Itz a dum' ideas ta badmouth ol' Baxter, especially ta me face." He turned away and stumbled of through the crowd, muttering about disrespectful children. Crystal smiled up at Danning.

"Thank you" She told him. Danning was looking much less impressed.

"You're not making a good name for yourself, kid. I just saved your neck from Baxter, the most vile guy you're likely to run into here. Think yourself luck I was there to stand up for you." Her smile fell. Azumarill tugged at her uniform. Dannings eyes fell down towards him. "And keep a close eye on him. Some grunts have a kleptomanic tendency to steal any pokemon they see running around alone. Don't let him out of your sight for a second." Crystal grabbed Azi's arm and pulled him closer.

Then there was a sudden silence as a drum was struck. Every head turned towards the far end of the hall. A group of figures were walking onto the raised stage. Two of them wore the recognisable black rocket uniform with one or two added variations, however the other two seemed to be wearing an unusual white version of suit, with no hats and red gloves and boots. The two varied black clothed grunts stood on the left and right side of the stage. The other two walked into its centre. Crystal stood onto her tiptoes, trying to see past the crowd.

"I can't see. What's going on?" She asked. Danning simply tutted quietly. He wasn't about to help her every time she needed him. He may have a soft heart but he wasn't that soft. He looked away and back at the entering figures. One of the white uniformed figures was evidently female, with long red hair and a stubborn, strict expression. The two black figures varied in their look. One had yellow details instead of red, an elderly face and short purple hair in a spike at the top of his head. He did not wear a cap. The other was younger and more pompous looking, with white details instead of red and short grey hair poking slightly out in a knife edge from under the black cap. The last figure was a lot tougher to tell. All detail on him was completely covered up and invisible to crowd from under a white hood and cloak. A wool mask covered his face, marked with small red dots over the eyes. He stood directly up front, the female figure standing next to him, his arms limp by his side. He seemed to stand motionless and silent for several minutes, a microphone raising upwards towards his face. When he did speak his voice echoed like an explosive symphony of dramatic acting, filling a thousand ears with his royalist, commanding accent.

"Brothers!..." He boomed. A small echo of feedback hit the crowd, causing a thousand mouths to wince in slight pain. "And Sisters!..." He continued. The feedback stopped. The leader of Team Rocket raised a clenched fist. "Thank you all for joining us here today. Some of you have recently joined. Others of you have been a part of our team since the beginning. To all of you I welcome. You all answered my call and shall be rewarded when the end comes." There was a cheer from the crowd. Crystal's brow furrowed.

"What does he mean 'when the end comes'?" She asked. Danning didn't answer but neither did he clap. He simply looked down at her, pity in his wise young eyes.

"You'll find out soon enough." He said. This comment seemed to confuse Crystal even further but she had no time to ask more questions as the leader began to speak again.

"No doubt most of you know about what happened in Kanto no more than a month ago." He stated. "How I was betrayed by our old leader and defeated by a puny weakling child." Many members of the crowd nodded. The commander threw his clenched fist aside, whipping his cloak in the air. "I imagine most of you have been unsure, possibly even disbelieving, about how Team Rocket can stay standing after so many defeats and so much trouble."

"He really likes the sound of his own voice doesn't he." Crystal muttered to herself, just loud enough for Danning to hear from beside her. He nodded subtly in agreement.

"Like they say, with great power comes a pointless inspiring monologue." Crystal chuckled a little at this. Danning gave a small but hidden smile.

"Well the main reason is this." The Leader continued "We are still remembered. No one has forgotten us. No one will forget us. Even in the shadows of our shambles hideout we survive, growing in numbers, growing in force, growing in power. And as long as we are around we will never stop till our goals are reached." There was another cheer from the crowd. The leader seemed to be lapping up their appreciation now. "But, of course, we are Team Rocket. We need to be seen. We need to have an aim. We need a goal to reach up for. And I believe I have just the goal that will allow us regional control, the kind we have reached for since the dawn of our beloved family, nearly twenty years ago." He brought his hands together. "What do I plan?" He gave a small inhale of tension. Then he released for suspense. "Well, my original plan was conquest through technology. But as we all know, technology breaks. It can be corrupted and dismantled. But there is one thing that cannot. One thing that we can bend to our will. One thing that cannot let down its user. I am of course talking about natural power. Biological power. The power that lies within gods. Genuine gods. Or rather, the power that lies within our deities." There seemed to be a surprised gasp from the audience. The leader nodded. "Yes. We need a legendary Pokémon. They are the strongest living force available to us on our planet. The only one we can truly control... And I know where we can get one." He stepped back. "So, my brothers and sisters, will you aid me in this new goal? Will you join me upon the seat of godship? Will you move with me and take control of the entire human race?" There was a roar of approval from everyone. Crystal glanced at Danning who showed no emotion. He just stared at the leader, his inner thoughts invisible to her. The leader raised up his arms. "My name is Archer!" He threw his arms outwards, roaring with the crowd, his white cloak flailing in the air behind him as it was flung back. There was the impossible silence that came with a crowds cheer, silencing everything else in the world out long enough for the final words to be heard. "And I will lead Team Rocket to its victory!"

* * *

 **So that's Chapter 1. Hope it got all you newbies interested in the story and all the previous followers wanting to read more. Follow for more chapters. The next one will really start the story rolling. Any reviews I get are helpful, no matter what they say. Hope you all enjoy your time on the site and reading the stories.**

 **J Out.**


	2. Chapter 2: New Bark, New Town

Evening was arriving now. Joe and Winter continued their walk, though they were getting tired now. They had been walking for hours and where exhausted. They hadn't had anything to drink for hours and the day only got hotter and hotter. Ralph was getting tired, too. He looked ready to fall out of the air. At one point they had come to an area of river they had to swim across, so Winter had gotten back out her Staryu and poliwrath, Stream, to carry her and Joe across. This would have been a good place for them to rest and get a drink, except that the river was salt water. They continued on, still tired and parched. Once they reached the other bank they trampled back onto land and withdrew their water pokémon. The path continued on, passing mountains and small forests with all kinds of strange pokémon poking their heads out. Then, finally, they saw buildings in the distance. They exclaimed together in joy.

"Oh thank god! Civilisation!" Joe gasped.

"Somewhere to rest." Winter added.

"Croooo!" Ralph agreed. They picked up pace and hurried onwards, heading for their first destination in this new region.

From the outside this small countryside settlement seemed peacefull and tranquill, where nothing bad could ever occur. As they walked into the new town, however, they noticed quickly that something wasn't right. There were so many people out but not one of them looked happy or upbeat or even carefree. Every single one of them seemed to be worried and frightened about something. Their eyes darted around, their movements were jittery and quick, their bodies where slouched and defensive. They all walked quickly from place to place, not in a hurried manner, but more of a fearful and concerned manner. The group looked around, not sure what was going on.

"Why is everyone moving about so much?" Winter wandered.

"They seem agitated about something." Joe agreed. As they watched a woman and her husband passed by looking very saddened. The woman was sobbing her eyes out, her partner trying to comfort her the best he could. Beside them a small pudgy brown ferret creature followed after them, bounding along with its long fat tail flailing behind it. They walked away slowly and turned a corner out of sight, the sound of sobbing following them away. The group looked back at each other. "We should as someone what's going on." Joe decided. Winter and Ralph nodded. "But who would know?"

"What about her?" Winter asked. She pointed past him towards a row of houses, all with multiple simple coloured exterior walls yet all with the same shape and make.

"Who?" Joe asked as he turned. Then he noticed who she was talking about. Standing in the doorway of one of the houses was a young girl, about age eight, in a small red and white dungaree dress and small puffy bobble hat. Her eyes were red with tears and her cheeks wet. Her lower lip seemed to be trembling a little as she fought back tears. Joe looked at the distraught child and turned back to winter. "That little girl?" He asked. "Why her?"

"You'll be surprised the information you can learn from speaking to little children." Winter explained. "If they feel they can trust you they'll be honest, they'll exaggerate less when they're and when they do exaggerate you can always tell." She walked past him and slowly strolled over towards the young girl. Joe looked at Ralph who also looked a little unsure.

"Stay here for now." Joe told him. "You know… just in case she doesn't like big scary bats." Ralph looked offended, but obeyed his friend's request. Joe smiled at him and followed Winter.

The girl was now sitting on the front step of her home, her head in her lap and sobbing still. She looked up as she heard arriving footsteps to see a ginger haired older girl with green eyes smiling kindly at her. The girl felt a little nervous but just continued to look at her. Winter knelt down and kept up her disarming smile.

"Hey there." She said in a calm and sweet voice. "Are you ok?" The girl sobbed.

"I'm ok." She choked. Winter tilted her head.

"Then why are you crying?" She asked. The girl broke into tears. "Hey, it's ok. I only want to help." The girl continued to weep. "My name's Winter." She told the child. "What's your name?"

"Lyra." The girl said through snuffles. "Lyra Peterson." Winter smiled at her.

"Lyra." She repeated. "That's a pretty name. Where are your parents?" It was at this point Joe arrived on the scene. Lyra began to curl up into a defensive wall.

"What have you found out?" Joe asked Winter aloud. She shushed him immediately and he gave her a confused 'What?' expression.

"Joe, this is Lyra." She explained to him, keeping her voice calm and quiet for the hysterical child. "Lyra, this is my friend, Joe." Lyra looked up at the two of them, looking them both in the eyes and seemingly reading their facial expressions.

"Is he your, like, boyfriend?" She asked. Winter seemed to blush.

"Oh, no, of course not. No." She told her, seeming a little discomforted.

"No. Nothing like." Joe agreed, also blushing.

"No, we're just… just friends." Winter told her. She swallowed embarrassedly and flicked her hanging hair over her back. "We're both pokémon trainers. We've just arrived here from Kanto and we saw all the commotion in town so we came to see if we could help. Do you know what's going on here, Lyra?" She asked. Lyra shrugged.

"I don't think I know exactly…" She muttered slowly and unsurely.

"Could you just explain it to us anyway?" Joe asked. Lyra was about to explain when suddenly she notice Ralph in the distance watching them. Joe turned and sighed with disappointment. 'Now she was going to scream and run inside where we couldn't talk to her. Great. Nice job, Ralph. Floating like a lemon only a few feet away is a great way to hide yourself. Good work. Scaring kids is a new page in your book of useful skills.' But to his surprise Lyra didn't cry or scream when she saw him. Instead she started to giggle and clap. She pointed at the flying purple creature.

"What is that?" She asked. Winter and Joe looked at Ralph. Ralph looked back, confused.

"That's my friend." Joe explained to her. "He's a crobat."

"Is he friendly?" She asked. Joe nodded slowly.

"Yes." He smiled. "He's very friendly."

"Can I pet him?" She pestered. Joe suddenly looked unsure. Ralph didn't like it much when Joe patted him on the back. How would he react to a young child pampering him like a puppy?

"Uh, sure you can." Joe told her, without asking Ralph if he was okay with it first. He looked back at his floating four winged companion and waved a hand to him. "Ralph, come here." He called. Ralph looked around to make sure Joe wasn't talking to anyone else before pointing to himself, getting a bothered nod from Joe and flying across to join the two trainers and the young girl. Lyra smiled up at the man sized purple monster.

"Hi." She said, smiling excitedly. Ralph smiled back, revealing his fangs. Lyra giggled more. "He's cute." She chuckled. Ralph blushed.

"Ok, so, Lyra…" Joe interrupted as the little girl began petting the much bigger crobat as he perched on the step beside her. Ralph wasn't very happy about it but he put up with it to keep her calm. "Can you explain to us what you know of what is happing here right now?" Joe asked. Lyra seemed to think for a second.

"I'm not sure why everyone in town is scared, but it has something to do with my sister's disappearing last night." She explained.

"Your sister disappeared?" Winter repeated, stunned. Lyra looked sad again.

"Yeah. She ran off in the night. Everyone's been trying to find her all day. Mommy hasn't stopped crying since."

"Do you know why she would want to run off?" Joe asked her. Lyra shrugged.

"No. She was always so nice to me. She was the best older sister I could have ever asked for. She often gets into fights with mommy, though. They argue every night. Alan tries to calm the fights down but it never works. She gets into a lot of trouble at school, her and Azi. They misbehave a lot."

"Who's Azi?" Joe asked.

"Her azumarill." She explained. "She got him as a birthday present three years ago… before our daddy… passed…" She stopped, small tears appearing in her eyes. Joe and Winter looked solemn

"Oh, I'm sorry." Winter told her. Lyra began to cry again. She hugged Ralph's wing tight as tears began to strain her face again. Ralph looked at her, glumly. Even he, the great big beast that he was, couldn't help but feel sad after hearing that.

"Do you know anything else?" Joe asked, trying not to sound demanding. The kid was clearly very distraught at the moment. Lyra rubbed her nose and coughed a few times. Then she tried to speak again.

"That's all I can remember." She told him.

"Could you tell us her name, in case we happen to run into her?" Winter asked. Lyra nodded and swallowed, rubbing her eyes and calming down a little.

"She's called Crystal." Lyra told them. "She's hard to miss. She has the same hat as me, except she's a lot taller and older, too. She had long black hair in pigtails and blue eyes and has a very stubborn attitude. You can't miss her."

"Thank you, Lyra. That's very helpful." Winter told her. It wasn't exactly that helpful. It did describe for them what she looked like, but there where many other teenage female trainers with black hair in pigtails, blue eyes and stubborn attitudes. It was practically a requirement. And consider searching through a crowd of them for one girl in particular. Still, the name Crystal wasn't very common and would make it somewhat easier to search for her. "Do you know anyone else who may be able to help us more?" Winter asked her finally. Lyra thought for a second.

"You could ask the professor over at the lab at the north of town." She told them. "He may know a bit more than I do."

"Right. Thank you, Lyra. I hope your sister is found soon." Winter and Joe stood up again and waved their goodbyes. Ralph broke free from the young girls grip and followed after them, both delighted and sat to leave her behind.

"Hey, trainers!" Lyra called after them. They stopped and looked back at her. "If you find Crystal, tell her that mommy and Lyra want her to come home. We miss her." And then she walked back inside the house, shutting the door behind her. Joe, Winter and Ralph looked at each other, sadly.

"A runaway girl." Joe pondered. "Why would one want to run away from home?"

"Maybe she was abused." Winter thought. "Lyra did say her sister often had fights with her mother. Maybe she left because of that."

"Maybe." Joe agreed. But something about it all seemed suspicious. He didn't know why but he had this nagging fear and belief that, somehow, Team Rocket was involved. Knowing them they almost certainly were, even if it was in some non-direct way. "But I wouldn't be so sure."

They found the lab sitting at the furthest north end of the town, surprisingly enough still surrounded by houses. It was smaller than Professor Oak's lab in Kanto but it still looked just as clean and impressive. Like Oak's lab the walls were white with a large red door and windows, but the roof was flat and blue, rather than raised and grey. The door was also made of a tarnished wood. While Oak's lab had been all metal and plastic this lab was a lot more natural looking, with its small front gardens, hanging plants, pond, wooden door and stone wall motif and flat blue roof. As they approached the door they heard annoyed and pain filled yelling from the other side. It sounded like someone had just been bitten very hard on the hand.

"What the heck was that?" Winter asked. She looked at Joe.

"I don't know." He told her. He looked back. Ralph shrugged too. Together they pushed the door open and walked inside. The inside of the lab was exactly the way you would expect it to be. There were various desks covered in paper work, white walls, small windows, one big main room with no other smaller rooms in the building, various vials and alchemical devices, a bed, two fold-out medical benches, a healing machine and row upon row of glass display counters. It was almost exactly the same as Professor Oak's lab. The only major difference was the small rotating panel and screen at the far end of the room with two three small circular dips and two pokeballs in them. The third dip was empty. As it turned out this was because the local professor was having trouble getting the pokémon that was supposed to be in that ball back inside. At the far end of the room a man in a white lab coat was shaking his hand in pain while using the other to withdraw a pokémon from it. By the time the trainers had noticed it there it was already gone, so they never got a good look at it. The man shook his head exhausted from the scrabble had had made to catch it, turned and saw the two trainers and one crobat at the doorway. He smiled, rubbed the back of his head and called to them.

"Ah, hello there. I'm professor Elm. How can I help you children?" The professor was surprisingly young, much younger then professor Oak. He was almost sixty, while Elm looked passable for thirty two. His hair still had colour in it and he was wrinkle free. His hair was light black and short, with a small puff at the front over his brow. Because his hair was so short his ears stuck out like small satellites. They seemed to fidget about when he talked. He wore a pair of glasses, except his pair was nerdier looking than a normal pair of glasses with bigger lenses and longer hinges. He also had much, much smaller eyebrows then Oak. In total, he was an entirely different professor all together. The trio stepped forwards, walking into the lab itself.

"Um, hello." Joe said, holding an unsure hand up in greeting. "My name's Joe Glende. We've just arrived from Kanto and we've come in to have our pokedexes updated for Johto pokémon." The professor snapped his fingers.

"Ah, so you're the trainers that Professor Oak told me would be arriving at some point." He said. "Yes, I remember. Joseph Glende and Winter Kitoshi. He spoke highly of you both."

"Professor Oak told you we were arriving?" Winter asked. "But we never said anything to him about meeting another professor."

"He knew the route you were taking would bring you here and that you'd most likely need to stop by the lab for work on your pokedexes. Welcome to New Bark Town, by the way." Then he noticed Ralph. "Ah." He said with sudden amazed thespianism. "You have a crobat. Marvellous!" He rushed over and began studying Ralph, looking him over and poking and prodding him in multiple body parts. "Where did you get such a fine specimen like this?" He asked. Ralph looked concerned. He had no idea who this man was but he was throwing himself at him and poking him in areas he didn't want to be poked, mainly on the wings.

"That is Ralph." Joe explained. "He's my starter pokémon."

"How did you get hold of him?" The professor asked. "Crobats are rare enough here, they must be impossible to find over in Kanto."

"Well, I didn't exactly get given him, but then again nor did I catch him." Joe tried to explain. The professor looked intrigued.

"Then how did you meet him?" He asked.

"I saved him from a swarm of beedrill." Joe explained. "Professor Oak found us unconscious after the fight, healed us up and said that he'd found Ralph with his pokeball. Since no one came to claim him he gave him to me.

"Yes, that does sound like something Oak would do." Professor Elm said, slyly. "I shouldn't think many kids get the honour of having a crobat on their team, let alone as their starter. You and he must have been through tones of adventures."

Joe chuckled. "Yeah." He admitted. "We have."

"But now you are hear in Johto to start a brand new one." Elm added. "I imagine that with your new learning and skill this one will be even more amazing then the last. He held up his arms in a dramatic revealing manner. Then he lowered them again out of embarrassment when he saw the trainers just staring at him. He chuckled awkwardly. "Right, well if you both come over here and join me at my computer I can set up your Dexes with the right software straight away." They followed him to the end of the room where a simple but old style computer was sitting on a cluttered desk. The professor took a wire which was attacked to the back of his computer, pulled the free end around to the front and held out a free hand to the trainers. "If you'd pass me your pokédex, please." Joe reached into his back and handed the professor the pokédex. He took it gently and plugged it in. The screen began to roll coded information as it loaded the new data and software onto the portable pokémon data device.

"Will it take long?" Joe asked him.

"Oh, barely minutes." The professor chortled. "If you need, you can use my healing station to restore your pokémon to health." He pointed to the regenerator device nearby. "Oak said you may have a few battles on your way. I hope you're enjoying Johto so far." He said.

"We are." Joe replied as he placed Pippy and his new pokémon, Mar's, pokeball into the slots and switched the healing machine on. It whirred and flashed as it restored the pokémon's health and energy.

"Good, good. You caught any new pokémon yet, either of you?"

"Just the one." Winter told him.

"Oh. What was it?"

"A marill, I think it's called." Joe explained.

"Ah, the small round water mice?" The professor probed.

"Yes, that's it.

"Ah yes, they're quite common in this area, being by the river and all. They love the water's edge. Many trainers have them."

"Oh." Joe said, feeling a little down about this. Originally he had thought that this pokémon he caught had been somewhat rare. Now it turned out to be as common as sand on a beach. As long as it behaved and did well in battle then it was welcome on his team. The professor suddenly exclaimed, taking him by surprise.

"Ah ha! It's done." He said. Joe exhaled. He thought that something bad had happened. The professor unplugged the pokédex and handed it back to Joe. "You should be able to bring up information on Johto pokémon now. Go ahead and look up marill so you can see its data." Joe took the device and did just that. He scrolled through all the pages that had information on pokémon until he eventually reached '#183 – Marill' He opened up the page. The data on this newly caught pokémon scrolled down for him to read.

 _'Marill: The Aquamouse Pokémon. Type: Water. Size: 1'04 Foot or 0.4 Meters. Weight: 18.4 Pounds or 8.5 Kilograms. Its fur contains natural oils which keep its dry while in the water. The buoy on its tail stops it from drowning, even in strong currents.'_

"Huh. Interesting." Joe said as he finished reading the page and switched his pokédex of again. At this point the professor had just finished updating Winter's pokédex as well and was handing it back to her.

"There, all done." He said with a smile.

"Thank you, Professor Elm." Winter said as she took her pokédex back. The professor smiled and got up from his seat, walking across the room towards one of the desks. Winter coughed suddenly as she decided to ask him a question. "Uh, professor, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this incident involving a girl running away, would you?" The professor looked up from the paper.

"Ah. You heard about that from one of the townspeople?" He asked.

"Yes." Winter explained. "Her younger sister told us about it. We just wondered if you could tell us more." He sighed sadly.

"Ah, yes, I can tell you more." He said solemnly. "Young Crystal Peterson's disappearance." He turned back around to face the two trainers. "Well, no one knows as of now why she's run away. Apparently her and her mother had a big fight. I just spoke with her and her new partner, Alan, about it. She's quite upset. She seems to be blaming herself for her daughters running away. I wouldn't blame her. Crystal can be quite a hand full. Though you can't hate her. She's still getting over the loss of her father three years ago. He was a good man and he loved her to bits. It's a tragic loss, loosing someone like him."

"How did she loose her father?" Joe asked. Having lost a friend once before he could understand the pain of losing someone close to you, but he could never truly relate to loosing a father. The professor sighed.

"It was cancer that took him in the end. Leukaemia. It was so quick. One minute he was here and the next minute…" He stopped, feeling that he shouldn't go on. Winter held a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "That's horrible."

"Isn't it." The professor agreed. "He was always helping around town. And he was a great trainer. An amazing trainer in fact. There were few people in the whole world, let alone Johto who could rival him, except maybe Lance and Red. He caught her a marill for her tenth birthday and named it Azi. She took him with her when she ran away, I think. I just hope that they're both safe. Johto isn't the place to be lost in right now."

"Why is that?" Joe asked. The professor looked serious now.

"Team Rocket." He said simply. Joe cursed the name. They had brought nothing but trouble since he's become a trainer. And now that he'd made a strong enemy of their leader he was not going to stop hearing of them any time soon. "Word is they've snuck into Johto and are rebuilding an army of some kind. People have been disappearing all over the region. Usually they're unkind souls with criminal pasts but there's been reports of children running away in other cities, too. I just hope that this is all some coincidence and that Team Rocket isn't back. But if they are…" He stopped and sighed a heavy depressed sigh. Then he smiled, trying to lighten the mood again. "But enough about that." He said. "Now, since you're both new to Johto I feel that it would be in my best manner to offer you something to get your new adventure started." He walked back to the middle of the room and headed for the stand with the pokeballs on. "Now, because you both arrived at a fortunate day of the weak I happen to still have a few starter pokémon available. So I wish to offer you one of them as an arriving gift into this region. Of course you don't have to but consider it a new starter from me, Professor Elm." Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"We can both pick one?" They asked. The professor suddenly seemed taken aback.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to empty you both took one. I only have enough spare to give away just one, I'm afraid. Sorry but you'll have to decide between the two of you who will pick. I hate to deny either of you but it's not easy to come by starter pokémon anymore." Winter and Joe's eyes met.

"You take one." They both said at the same time. Then they blushed.

"I'm sorry. I think you should be the one to take one." The both said at the same time again. They blushed again.

"No, you should have one." Joe told her. "I had two starters on my team in Kanto. I can use other pokémon."

"No, you should take one." Winter told him. "You're the main battler out of the two of us, after all."

"It wouldn't be fare on you." Joe argued.

"I don't mind. You should choose it for yourself." Winter argued back.

"No, Winter, that won't be fare on you. I just caught a pokémon. You should be the one to have the next one."

"I already have five pokémon on my team." She reminded him.

"Yeah, but they're all Kanto pokémon. You should get yourself one from this region." Ralph rolled his eyes. This conversation was going to go on forever. He shoved Joe forwards with a wing and pointed at the stand demandingly, grunting and clearly trying to say 'Just choose already!' Joe looked at him stunned.

"Well, thank you, Ralph." He muttered. He turned to the professor and nodded. "So what pokémon are there to choose from?" He asked. The professor smiled. He reached to the machine and pressed a button on the top. As he pressed it the machine lit up and all three pokeballs positioned in it snapped open spontaneously. Onto the stand landed three very different, very unique, vary adorable little pokémon. The pokémon on the left side was a small dark blue skinned mouse with a pail underbelly and constantly shut eyes and long snout nose. When it exhaled smoke and flame puffed from its nostrils and from small orifices in its back. The second pokémon looked to be some kind of living green root plant with a face and legs. It had big adoring eyes as well as a row of small seeds ringing around its neck and a leaf sticking out of its head. It smiled at Joe with its tiny cute face. The last in the line was a rather excited and rather energetic tiny blue crocodile. It had tiny arms and legs, big eyes, a bigger mouth and small jagged red sails on its back. It grinned at the human before it and jumped up and down, clapping its hands and snapping its jaws excitedly. It was quiet proud of itself for having managed to bite the professor on the hand earlier. The professor glared at it annoyed and rubbed his sore hand.

"These are the Johto starter pokémon." He explain and gestured a hand. He gestured first to the pokémon on the left. "This is cyndaquil, the fire mouse pokémon." He explain. "It's a strong special attack and is quite quick. It's probably the easiest to train of all the three starters but doesn't have very good defence." He moved on to the middle pokémon. "This is chikorita, the leaf pokémon. It's the toughest of the three to train and isn't the best with attacks but it has a solid endurance and a move set that allows its defensive strategy to shine through." He moved onto the last pokémon, this time not gesturing so that it wouldn't bite him on the hand again. "And this last one is totodile, the big jaw pokémon. It's feisty, energetic and an all-around pest!" The professor glared at the grinning croc. "It's got a lot of physical strength but not much special attack, which is a problem for water types. Its best option it just to bite things." He glared at the tiny blue reptile again. "So that's all the Johto starters." He finished. "Now I'll let you choose which of the three you want to add to your team." He stepped back and allowed Joe to step forwards. "Take all the time you need." He added from the side.

Joe looked at the three adorable pokémon in front of him. They all looked quite happy and energetic at the moment and all three of them seemed keen to have a trainer. It really wasn't easy trying to choose which he wanted to take with him. He was considering crossing out totodile because it was a water type and he already caught one of them, but then again he may not keep Mar on his team forever. As for cyndaquil and chikorita there was a free space on his team for them both. He was struggling at this moment to decide which he wanted to choose. He remembered having this same problem back in Kanto, before he'd met Ralph. He had been struggling to decide which starter pokémon he wanted to choose then, too. In Kanto he'd had the choices of picking charmander, squirtle and bulbasaur. If only then he'd know that he was going to get both a charmander and a bulbasaur on his team through gifts he would have probably chosen squirtle on the spot. But if he had done that he may have never met Ralph. He thought back to those good old days, when he travelled Kanto with his team. Sting the beedrill, Cinders the charmander, later to become charizard, Nami the timid vaporeon, Carter the bold hitmonlee, Sirena the serene lapras, and, of course, the naughty Pitt the bulbasaur, later to become venusaur. He missed them all. All of them had new homes now and new keepers. They had all meant something to him. They were his family. He felt an ache that he could no longer be with them. But it was something he'd had to decide. Only Ralph and one more could come with him, and in the end Pippy had been picked. He was the only one left without a home and Joe didn't plan to let him or Ralph go either. The more he thought about it the more he missed those times, when Pitt had been a bulbasaur and they had only just got his first gym badge and the world seemed a lot less confusing and crowded. Those were the days when Sting was still alive. He missed it dearly. He felt he should try and recapture them in some way. His mind snapped back to the moment as he realised he was staring at the chikorita, and the chikorita was staring back. It looked at him with big cute eyes and a friendly face. Its smile warmed his heart up. Joe smiled back. In the flash of a memory he made his decision. That memory was of him and Pitt when he'd first been sent him by his uncle after beating Rocky and Gordon of Pewter City. Pitt had been tough to train at first but when he calmed down and starter caring about his trainer and the battles he had proved himself to be a good friend and an amazing pokémon. He probably wouldn't have made it far into the elite four if Pitt hadn't been there. He wouldn't have made it if any of his pokémon hadn't been there. That image of the bulbasaur in the cardboard box will stay with him for many years to come. He made his choice.

"I pick chikorita." He announced. Totodile stopped jumping up and down and looked very saddened, clearly upset it hadn't been chosen. Cyndaquil looked disappointed but not upset about not being picked. Professor Elm smiled at Joe.

"Is that your final choice?" He asked. Joe didn't even pause to think.

"Yes." He said simply. Professor Elm clapped his hands.

"Ok then." He pressed the button again and the three pokeballs shut, withdrawing the three pokémon they belonged to. Elm took the middle ball, held it in his palm and handed it to Joe. "Joseph Glende, I hereby given unto you your first Johto starter pokémon, Chikorita!" Joe took the pokeball and held it in his hands. That was it. His fourth pokémon on his team already. He was quite surprised by how quickly it was happening.

"Thank you, Professor Elm." He said gratefully. The professor shut the stand machine down and stepped away, still smiling. It was always a great feeling for a professor to see a trainer take on their first starter pokémon, even if this technically wasn't Joe's first starter pokémon.

"Do you wish to name him?" He asked. Joe nodded. He had one name on the mind. It was cliché and obvious but sometimes you can't help but avoid those things. Besides, it suited this new pokémon very well.

"I was thinking, Leaf." He said. The pokeball in his hand seemed to shake slightly, as if the pokémon inside was happy with his choice. Ralph nodded in agreement, as did Winter.

"It sounds good to me." Winter told him. "I mean, it's not as odd as Pitt." Joe looked at her disapprovingly.

"Who's Pitt?" The professor asked.

"My bulbasaur." Joe explained. "Well, he's a venusaur now. I left him in Kanto."

"Ah. So that's why you chose the grass type is it? Fond memories and all that."

"Yes." Joe agreed. The professor pushed his glasses back up the rim of his nose.

"Arightey then." He announced, clapping his hands. "I'll have to go and order a new chikorita for the new trainers to choose from. I'll have to go talk to Mr. Pokémon about that. Till then, if you three want to stay in town the pokémon centre has rooms open for you to stay in. It's only midday but you might want to head over there anyway, just to grab a room in case it fills up." Joe and Winter nodded to each other. It sounded like a good plan.

"Thank you for the help, Professor." Winter said as they left for the door.

"Come back if you ever need anything." The professor called after them as they walked back out through the door and of into the town. When they were gone he sighed and sat down. "I hope that they find her ok." He muttered to himself, falling into deep worried thought. "For all our sakes I hope she's ok and that these stories going around aren't true."

* * *

In the Rocket Base locker room all the grunts were gearing up, grabbing various equipment, devices and pokeballs from their locker, ready to head out and fulfil their missions. In the middle of it all Crystal sat on a bench, Azi huddling nervously under her arm. See was a little confused. Everything had jumped into life so quickly. She had hardly been with Team Rocket a minute and already stuff was happening. Everyone was moving about and showing not one reason as to why. She looked around for a friendly face who she could ask what was going on, but not one face she spotted looked like they would be willing to speak to her. So she shied away, sitting on the bench in her new grunt uniform, scrunching her hat in her arms. Then she spotted Danning and rushed over to him.

"Danning!" She called as she pushed through the moving current of grunts, waving her hat above the crowd so he would see her. He looked and saw the teenage girl calling his name.

"Crystal, what are you doing?" He hissed, looking around at the grunt faces staring at him. They mocked his parental stature towards her, he could tell.

"Danning, what's going on? Where's everyone going?" She asked. Danning reached his locker and flung the door open, grabbing his pokeball belt and two pokeballs.

"We've got our missions." He explained to her simply. Crystal looked stunned.

"Already?" She asked. "What mission?"

"Luckily you're with me and my group." He told her. "We're going to Cherrygrove. There's a pokémon there we've been asked to steal."

"What kind of pokémon?" Crystal persisted.

"The rare kind." Danning said.

"Can't you tell me anymore than that?"

"No. Now do as I say and stay unnoticed. You don't want the guys round here seeing you mess up, especially if you're with me. It won't end well for either of us." He pushed her across to her locked, flicked the door open and pointed to it. "I'll meet you at the garage exit with the rest of the group, now get geared up already!" He commanded and stormed off, leaving the room and heading for the room in which they kept the transport jeeps. Crystal felt saddened that the one person she felt she could trust a little was getting angry at her, but then again he was a member of team Rocket. Danning seemed like a nice enough guy but he was too concerned about staying in everyone's neutral books to try and show it. However it was clear he was at least protective of her. He could tell she needed someone to guide her in this world because she'd never survive in it alone. Azi grabbed crystals hand in concern. Crystal smiled down at him and then looked inside her locker. As a new grunt she had been supplied with a few basic equipment's to get her tasks done. Inside the locker was a net gun, a scanning device for finding hidden pokémon, a collection of empty pokeballs, a pokeball belt and two full pokeballs. It seemed that Team Rocket had supplied her with new pokémon to defend and attack with as well. She took the gear and hurried out of the room, after Danning.

* * *

Time had crossed the world again and now it was night in the land of Johto. Everyone had gone to sleep, except for a few people still walking around, either trying to sleep or looking out for any more possible runaways or other criminals. The sound of owl hoots echoed around the woodlands nearby and several screeches indicated a hunt was happening. And in the small but comfortable sleeping quarters of the pokémon centre Joe had switched of his mind and drifted away into the void of slumber. After getting his newest pokémon, Leaf the chikorita, from Professor Elm at his lab Joe had decided to spend a bit of time getting to know his newest pokémon. He had gone to the park with Winter and Ralph and let all his pokémon out so they could get to know each other, too. As a battling trainer it was always a good idea to make sure your pokémon knew who their team mates were and who they could trust and rely on to help. Leaf seemed to get on well with all of them, even Winter's pidgeotto, Zephyr, who could be quite stubborn and unkind. This was a good sign. Because leaf was so mild in attitude he didn't try to start any unwanted fighting. At the same time he wasn't timid either. He was mainly calm, which was a good thing for him as a grass type. Mar on the other hand was another story. He was a lot more upbeat and bounced around all over the place. He was always smiling, always crying for attention and always trying to show off and make everyone smile. While this seemed to sit well with most of his pokémon there was one of them who so far hadn't really taken to the small round blue mouse. That pokémon was the other thinner fuzzy electric yellow mouse. Pippy didn't seem impressed. He seemed to consider Mar to be annoying and attention seeking, which is strange because when it comes to natures they are both considered as jolly pokémon. Maybe it was because Mar is new and Pippy was jealous of the attention he was getting, but he seemed to want to keep his distance from him and never looked happy when he was around. Joe would have to find a way to solve that argument. But now wasn't the time. He was tired, he was exhausted and he was asleep. On a bed in the same room Winter was asleep also and from the roof above them Ralph slept, hanging from a slightly loose pipe. The time was reaching midnight quick and everything was quiet.

In Joe's head his thoughts stirred and whipped up memories. They dissolved into his subconscious and formulated dreams. He had hoped to never dream again. During his Kanto adventure he had experienced several visions in his sleep brought on apparently by a rare legendary pokémon called Mew. They had shown him his past, his families past, the near future and what was coming soon. Each and every one had been different and they had all somehow pushed him into finally defeating Team Rocket's leader. But he had only ever had five. Just those five visions, and the last one had been a two days ago, the day before he left for Johto. It was because of that vision he had decided to leave. Fortunately Mew had promised him in the last vision that he would never experience them again, that after this last one they would stop. While it seemed that that promise was being kept the same couldn't be said for his subconscious.

In this specific dream Joe was watching many moments of his life, mainly ones from his adventure, play back in front of his eyes. It started with empty whiteness. Then he saw himself standing on the road to Viridian Town with Ralph beside him. This was when his journey had first started, on the day he and Ralph had met and saved each other's lives. The vision faded to him catching his first two pokémon, Sting as a weedle and Pippy. This then faded to him receiving Pitt the bulbasaur in a cardboard box from his uncle after beating the first gym. But at this point the dream began to change. Next he saw his battle with the Rockets in Mt Moon. Then he saw them in Cerulean City. Then at the Pokémon Day care. Then his brush with the slaving criminals on route 5. Then the S.S. Falcon. Then Rock Cave. And finally lavender town. He hoped he would never see that place again, not after what happened there. In the dream it faded into black. Then there was the sound of a gunshot, echoing around the entire void. Something faded into existence, frozen in its moment of doom. Sting appeared in front of his eyes, bleeding, and shot and about to die. He was crying. He was dying. There was nothing Joe could do. He had no way to save him. He felt the pain and grief he thought he had gotten over. He felt fear and misunderstanding as everything in the world stopped making sense. He desperately begged for everything to return to normal. Then he felt anger. Anger at the men who had done this. At the time he had blamed Team Rocket and he still did, but his dream said another thing. In the black background his vision moved up to the pokémon tower and a figure standing on the top. They looked at him and disappeared behind the roof. Who had that figure been? Why had they been watching? Why had they killed Sting? The dream dropped suddenly into a dooming black hole as flood upon flood of fear, anger, grief and confusion waved over him. Images appeared in his eyes. He saw Archer of Team Rocket taunting him as he won their battle. He saw the gun pressed against his head. He saw the storm after the calm. He saw the rage against the machine. He saw the embodiment of fear. He witnessed his whole conscience collapse in on itself. He saw the world disintegrate. Then he saw the face to blame it on. Archer. Team Rocket's grand and holy leader. Joe shivered with anger at his name. This man had tried to kill him. He had set out to destroy everything he had ever cared about, even his family. An image of his newly discovered father shot past for a second, then disappeared. Joe growled. He didn't care if the Rockets really were back or not. He would eventually find Archer and make him pay for the pain he and his grunts and commanders had put him through. Then it all cut to black, but not before his saw one final image. In the deep underground of the world he saw a cave with strange markings on the walls. And at the far back of the cave he saw, to his surprise, a large stone pyramid. As he watched, the pyramid began to shake and a large slit in the middle of the front side began to slide open.

He awoke sweating to the sound of movement outside the centre.

"Whaa…!" He exclaimed as he sat up, drenched in cold sweat. "What's going on?" He asked. Winter and Ralph were already awake before he was, standing by the door and looking out into the pokémon centre.

"There's something going on up at the lab." She explained. Joe rubbed his eyes as his brain began to awaken to the news.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I don't know." She told him honestly.

"Well then we should get up there and find out!" Joe told her. Winter nodded.

"That's what I was thinking." She agreed. They rushed through the door, out the entrance of the pokémon centre and hurried up to the lab where police and news teams where swarming together to make a strange mass of people. The two trainers and crobat tried to push their way through the crowd only to find the professor at the front speaking to a police sergeant. They were standing by the entrance and the door seemed to be still locked. Professor Elm was beginning to get rattled.

"This is an outrage!" He shouted. "You can't hold me out here without giving me an appropriate reason. I demand I have access to my own Laboratory!" The policeman ignored him and began writing notes in his notebook.

"We're doing all we can to find out what happened here, professor." He explained. "Now, could you tell us if you saw the person who broke into your lab?" He asked. The professor huffed.

"I don't know. I wasn't inside when it happened. Someone must have snuck in through a back window somehow. I caught a glimpse of red hair through the door, if that helps." The policeman nodded.

"It does. Thank you professor." And then he stepped away, allowing the camera crews and reporters to shove their microphones in under his face again. Joe jumped above the crowd, holding his hand high and trying to be noticed.

"Professor Elm!" He called. "Professor! Over here!" Elm didn't hear him. Joe shoved his way past the cameras, with a little help from Ralph, until he eventually reached the startled scientist of the town. "Professor, what's going on here?" He asked. The professor looked at him and shrugged, uselessly.

"Someone broke into the lab." He explained. Joe gasped.

"What?" He asked. "Why?"

"Beats me." The professor told him, starting to get a little irate now. "I just hope they haven't messed with any of my data." Winter pulled Joe pack as reported began shoving her way past, demanding answers from both the policemen and the fuming professor.

"A break in." She repeated, thinking more on it. "Why would someone break into the professor's lab? What could they have to gain from it?" They both looked at each other with the same face of realisation.

"The pokémon!" They said at the same time. They slowly turned to the professor as the policemen broke through the door and into the lab. Everyone peered inside. The lab was empty, yet there were clear signs that someone had been there here where wet footprints on the floor near the window and papers on disks had been moved around and flung about in an attempt to find something, books had been overturned, lights had already been switched on… but the biggest piece of evidence was standing right ahead of them. The stand in which the two remaining pokeballs had been sat on was empty. Someone had broken in and stolen them. From the crowd there was a sudden yelping scream. The professor ran inside his lab, gathering up the loose pages and books, putting them back in their places and muttering to himself. The news teams followed after him, immediately focusing on taking pictures of the empty pokeball stand at the furthest end of the room. The policemen also followed him in, holding the news teams back and checking for any clues. The most obvious one was the footprints and, fortunately, they had noticed them quickly. Only Joe and Winter were still standing outside. Ralph seemed to be a little worried. If people were going around stealing pokémon from professors then he'd have to keep both his eyes fully open at all times in case someone had an idea of pinching him away. It was with thoughts like this that Ralph forgot how big and fearsome he looked to most people.

"The thief can't have gotten too far." Winter deduced. "If the professor saw someone break in and the police have only just arrived then they must have only just managed to sneak away. If that's the case then they could still be close by, maybe even watching." Joe hummed, uncertain. It all seemed so strange. If this was a Team Rocket act then they had changed their tactics a lot. They usually preferred to break in during the day and take hostages. In fact Team Rocket wouldn't be likely to even consider stealing from a professor. Mainly because they weren't smart enough to try that usually. Joe rubbed his chin. He saw Ralph's discouraged face out of the corner of his eye. He looked at his friend.

"What are you worried about?" He asked. Ralph looked at him with wide eyes, darting slightly as if looking for someone in the dark. Joe chuckled. "Are you worried that someone would try to steal you?" Joe asked, genuinely surprised. "Don't be silly. Who'd want to kidnap you? You'd probably eat them if they tried." Ralph didn't laugh. Instead he gave Joe a demandingly serious look. "Look, I'll protect you if anyone tries." Ralph grunted, raising a questioning eyebrow. "I promise!" Joe said, stoically. Ralph smiled. Then suddenly he stared at Joe, looking shocked, suspicious and a hint of mild fear. Joe looked back at him, unsure. "Ralph, are you okay?" He asked. Ralph didn't respond. Then Joe realised Ralph wasn't actually looking at him. He was looking past him at something behind him, maybe in the distance. Joe looked back and gasped under his breath. On the horizon, standing on top of the distant hill at the west end of town and watching the whole event unfurl, was a shadowed figure. At this distance detail was difficult to make out except for two things, a silver ring on a finger which glistened in the moonlight and a set of long deep red hair. Joe narrowed his eyes. Red hair. That must mean that this figure was the thief. "Winter, look." He hissed and pointed surreptitiously up at the hill. Winter followed his hand and let her mouth drop open.

"Is that the…" She asked. Joe nodded. As they watched the figure stood up straight, relaxing their hands to the side and stepping back slightly. They had realised they were being watched. The figure turned and ran.

"After them!" Joe yelled and ran across the grass, speeding after the escaping figure. Ralph shot past him a second later, his wings folded in and flying like an arrow across the night time background. Winter followed after the two of them a few seconds later, unsure whether they were either brave, daft or both. No one from the police for, news crews or even the professor saw them run off. Ralph was already catching up on the figure, gliding over the ground and up the hill. The figure was trying to run but was no comparison to Ralph's speed. He could see their back in detail now, wearing a blue-black jacket with red stitch outlines and grey jeans, their red hair long and slick and cut down to the collar. Ralph was almost on top of them now. He didn't know how he was going to stop them but he knew he had to. He'd probably just grab them with his wings and crush them to the ground till Joe and Winter caught up to him. Ralph sped up, his wings out and lunged. Suddenly the figure flashed and swung around. Something strong and metallic smacked him in the side of the face and his mind switched off.

Joe was running up the hill now, running as fast as he could to keep up with the thief and with Ralph. He had only just reached the hill when he was a few metres away the thief suddenly turn around and punch Ralph square in the side of the head. Ralph went out like a light, collapsing to the ground with a thud and not stirring for several minutes after. Joe felt an angry growl stirring in his throat. No one was allowed to punch his best friend, not even he.

"Hey!" He shouted furiously. The figure stopped rubbing their fist and looked at him. In the dark Joe saw the slight glint of brown irises. He also saw the small sign of a curse rom their mouth. The figure turned and ran again, now with a limp where Ralph's wing had struck him in the knee, leaving the unconscious bat where he lay. "Give those pokémon back!" Joe yelled after him. The figure ignored him. Joe sprinted after them, fury fuelling him. No one punches his pokémon! No one! He reached the figure, jumped forward with his arms out and grabbed them around the waste. The figure toppled forwards onto the grass, Joe pulling them to the floor and crushing their lugs under his body. Joe tried to grab the figure by the arm and prevent them from fighting back but they were putting up a very strong fight. They fought back, kicking and wriggling, trying to get free. Joe tried to hold him down. Suddenly he was flung back, hitting the ground with an 'oomph'. The figure stood up again and turned on Joe, glaring at him in the darkness. Joe inhaled painfully as his body recovered from the impact shock. He got up, looked up and was hit in the face with a smokescreen He coughed and choked, wafting the smoke away and trying to step out. Then he was hit by a strong wave of water, pushing him back in the shape of a beam. He tried to fight against it but it was too strong. He was knocked back, stumbling and falling out of the smoke cloud as it faded away. Joe rubbed his eyes, coughed, looked up, a fist with a silver ring came swinging in, there was a flash of blue… and then… blackness.

When Joe finally regained consciousness he awoke to see Winter's face which was welcome. Ralph's face suddenly came into view upside down which was slightly less welcome. He groaned as his eyes ached and blinked with the sudden light.

"Oh thank god he's okay!" Winter said gladly and moved the torch away from his eyes. Joe blinked. He was looking at the sky, the dawn was on its way, the moon was vanishing behind the horizon and he was moving.

"Wha…" He tried to say.

"Ssh. Don't try and say anything." Winter told him calmly. "You took a blow to the head. You may not feel anything in your arms or legs for a bit." Joe groaned.

"What… happened… I…" He tried.

"The thief person you chased punched you. Knocked you out cold. I didn't get there in time to stop them. But don't worry. You and Ralph are safe. Now help me stand you up." She told him. Joe suddenly realised that a pair of arms were holding him under the shoulders. They lifted him up with a few pushing grunts and held him up as straight as they could till his legs were standing properly on the ground. Joe stood up, wobbled and fell back into the arms. Winter grunted and nearly collapsed under his weight. "That's not helpful." She grunted. Joe chuckled embarrassed.

"Sorry. I can't seem to keep balance." He tried again and this time he just about managed to stand up long enough to try walking. "That… that was no punch!" He said. The swing that, presumable, the thief had made at him had felt metallic. That was probably the sliver ring on their finger. But there was something else. It had felt like some kind of electric shock. He remembered a flash of blue just before he lost consciousness. He had no idea what to make of it, but there was no way that a punch like that would be strong enough alone to knock him out instantly. "Is Ralph ok?" He asked. Ralph's face came back into view, this time the right way up and smiling.

"He's ok." Winter told him. "He was knocked out too, but for nowhere near as long as you were." Joe smiled at his crobat friend, grateful he was okay. Then another thought popped into his head.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"I'm taking you to Cherrygrove city." She explained. "There's a pokémon centre there and we're not too far now. The pokémon at New Bark has shut while the police are searching the town so we had to move on. We'll be there soon." Joe nodded.

"What about the thief?" He asked. Winter sighed sadly.

"No. They got away. I didn't even get a good look at them before they were gone." She told him.

"And the pokémon?" Joe asked. Winter shook her head.

"They're gone, too."


	3. Chapter 3: Unlikely Reunions

It was early dawn and two trainers stumbled into the pokémon centre, looking exhausted and beaten. The dragged over to the pokémon centre, knocked on the counted and the nurse came running in, smiling happily.

"Hello. Welcome to Cherrygrove pokémon centre. How may I… Christ!" She exclaimed as she looked at the trainers. One of them was bent double and hardly able to stand. He had a nasty bruise on the side of his face. The girl carrying him waved a hand in response, struggling to hold up her friend.

"It's nice to meet you, too." She said. "Now could you help me sit him down?" She asked. The nurse jumped into action, grabbing the boy by his other arm and helping the girl move him into one of the medical rooms where he lay down painfully. The nurse took his pulse and checked his bruises. They were healing up quickly but they still looked quite painful.

"What happened?" She asked.

"He took a punch to the face." The girl explained. "They used some kind of special item. Knocked him out cold." The boy looked at her and groaned.

"You could have missed out that part about me getting punched." He groaned. The girl scoffed.

"Oh stop moaning. At least you're still in one piece." Something squelched into the room. The three humans turned around. In the doorway to the medical room stood, or rather slumped low to the ground, a fat, pink, gelatinous creature with two tiny black dot eyes and a long thin mouth. It too had bruises and makrs on its body and it was not looking happy.

"You left me behind!" He groaned loudly, trying to grab his friend's attention. Both trainers spoke at the same time.

"Oh shut up, Frank!"

Nurse Joy looked at them both, then at the blob in the doorway. "Is that your pokémon?" She asked. They both nodded.

"Yeah, but I sometimes wish he weren't." The girl told him. The blob thing, Frank, stared at her.

"Ruby, you're a cold-hearted b…!"

"Frank!" She snapped, cutting him of. Frank gulped the rest of the word down. He knew not to push his friend too far. The nurse looked confused.

"So who are you three?" She asked. "And what's with the strange getup?" She added. The two trainers looked at the red suits and black gloves and boots they wore and shrugged to each other.

"We're Team Ace, of course." The boy told her. "It say's so on the jacket." He grabbed the side of his suit and stretched it to show of the imprinted white car on the front. It was the Ace of Clubs. The girl did the same, revealing her own printed on card, except hers was the Ace of Diamonds. Frank tried to do the same, only to realise he wasn't wearing a suit.

"Ross, are you going to stop being a moaning baby and get of that bed or are you going to cry about it all day?" Frank asked. The boy, Ross, sighed and nodded painfully.

"If you two could give me a minute to at least rest after that attack." He told them. "It feels like my cheek has been smashed of my a metal brick. He must have been wearing brass knuckles or something." Nurse Joy looked a little shocked.

"Who attacked you?" She asked. Ross shrugged.

"Some redhead kid. I didn't catch his face." Ross explained.

"He ran off before we could stop him." Ruby added. "He just came out of nowhere. We were walking towards Cherrygrove city when, suddenly, he came running up behind us, pushed us out of the way, smacked Ross when he tried to stop him, then kept on running. He was carrying two pokeballs in his arms as well, I remember him nearly dropping one." The nurse nodded.

"Right." She stepped back from the injured Ross. "Well, there's not much I can do." She explained. Ross looked afraid.

"Wait, what does that mean?" He asked. The nurse looked at him.

"It means you're fine, sweetheart." She explained. "You're just going to have a bit of a bruise for a while. Don't poke it." She stepped back and out through the door into the main room again. "You can go if you want." She told them as she left. Ross and Ruby looked at each other.

"I knew you were fine." She told him, annoyed. "You were just acting being unconscious, weren't you, so you could get some sympathy." Ross looked shocked at her.

"I was never!" He said. "I honest to god lost consciousness when he punched me. There was a blue light…" He tried. Ruby rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, right. Now stop moaning and let's get going." The three members of Team Ace got up, walked out of the medical room and strolled out of the building. A few minutes later another group of two trainers and one pokémon burst in, one of them, a boy, being carried by the other two, a girl and a crobat. The nurse sighed automatically.

"Again?" She moaned. "Well, how did you manage it this time... Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I thought that you were another group of trainers coming to complain again." She said as she realised who had just entered the building. Joe and Winter reached the counter and slumped into it.

"Good morning, Nurse Joy." She said with an exasperated gasp. "Sorry to disturb you but we've had a bit of an incident."

* * *

The jeep stopped suddenly. Crystal tried to squeeze her way out past the huge hulking grunts around her and did eventually manage to. When she was out she found herself looking at the amazing scenic view of Route 30. Around both sides were long and lush forests with fields of long grass and a large pond near the south end. It was a beautiful place to stand. Cold air filled her lungs and she found herself relaxing. Danning looked at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her. She smiled at him.

"Taking in the environment." She explained. "I've been down this route before. It's a great place to just be." Danning looked around suspiciously.

"Well I wouldn't do that with this lot around. You should be focusing more on the task at hand." Crystal sighed.

"Ok. You're right of course." Danning smiled at her.

"Of course I am." He gestured forwards. "Now come on. The nest should be over here."

…

An hour later Joe and Winter walked back out of the pokémon centre. Joe was now able to walk properly again, he had his balance back and the bruise on his face was healing quickly. He was still using Ralph and Winter for support for the moment but he already felt almost back to normal. He smiled at them both. They smiled back. It had been weird discovering that Johto had Nurse Joys as well. It had taken Joe by surprise. As it turned out this Nurse Joy wasn't directly related to the Nurse Joys from Kanto. In fact the Nurse Joys of Johto were cousins to them and sisters to each other. Apparently their entire family spread out like that, like a very long and completely twig covered branch of a madly growing tree. They had families in each region, all working at the counter of pokémon centres. It was mad, but also true. Some say that the maddest things in the world are what we create with our own minds. Nurse Joy and her massive family seem to prove this theory wrong. Joe didn't let this information bother him for long. He was too tired to try and figure out the chances of all the members of this generation of the Joy family being female, pink haired, tall, nurses in pokémon centres and all of them being named Joy. He sighed and rubbed his head.

"That was a fun experience." He muttered sarcastically. "We should do that more often." Winter chuckled.

"Yes. I imagine it is fun chasing after criminals and knocking yourself out. Sounds like a great way to spend your time." She told him. They both laughed. Ralph joined in, even though he didn't really know why they were laughing. "Are you feeling okay now? Do you feel like you can manage to walk to the next town?" Winter asked him, keeping an eye on her friend. A punch to the head that was strong enough to nock someone out could do all kinds of damage to their brain and body if not treated or looked at. Joe smiled and nodded weakly.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. We should just probably take it slow for a bit." He told her. They headed off, traveling through the pretty seaside town and Cherrygrove without spending more then and hour in it. It was sad because the town itself seemed to have a very calm and peaceful atmosphere to it. There weren't many houses or building around but that's part of what made it such a nice looking place. The woods around the town were small and pleasant looking. The beach was covered in soft light coloured sand which was smooth and comfortable to walk on. The sea was a giant liquid sapphire which lapped the shore with a gentle gust from the horizon. The whole place looked like the perfect area for any retiree to settle down at. It was almost heavenly perfect. But the group weren't planning to stay around. They had to move on. The thief they had chased last night was almost certainly long gone now. They had lost them. But they still kept going. Their destination now was a large city further north called Violet City. It was nearer the centre of the Johto region and apparently that was where the first gym was located. Joe didn't know if he was ready to take the gym leader on yet, but he hoped to train and catch new pokémon on the next route, Route 30. As they reached the end of town at the point Route 30 begun they paused, preparing for a long walk. It was about 8:00 O'clock in the morning and the town behind them was beginning to wake up and run into life again. Pokémon calls echoed from the woods behind, beside and ahead. Joe inhaled then exhaled calmly.

"Let's go." He said finally. He took a step forward. He felt his balance weaken and shift a little but he managed to stay standing, wobbling only slightly. He took another step. This time he didn't wobble. He took another. And another. The strength came back to his legs quickly. He smiled and began walking at a fast speed, aiming to reach the other end of the route as quickly as possible. He waved back to Winter and Ralph. "Well come on! He called. "We've got a gym to reach."

They walked on for a while, taking in the fantastic scenery of route 30. As well as the forests and long grass areas of the route, there was also a lot of open field and shrubbery. Various kinds of new pokémon ran in and out between the bushes. From the trees pidgey swarmed in a hunting frenzy over the forest. Near the south of the rout was a large pond which they passed early on and took a quick rest by. The water was a more green shade here with various aquatic plants growing out of it and beside it. As well as this a few pokémon popped up every now and then. Some of them were marill, others were magikarp and a few were poliwags. As well as this they spotted two goldeen, a psyduck family and even a tentacool. And all of these pokémon were seen within a ten minute rest. After that the group continued on, heading back onto the path and walking up the route. An hour passed. Two hours passed. They began to get tired of walking down the same route. At this point they must have been half way there. The road continued ahead still. The end was still so far it wasn't anywhere near visible in the distance. Joe groaned. When would this walk start getting interesting? His wish was granted a few minutes later.

As he and Winter walked along the path, not really paying any attention to the world around them because there was nothing to focus their attention on, they suddenly heard a sharp and painful yell coming from ahead. They stopped.

"What was that?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"I have no idea." He admitted. "It sounded like someone just dropped a hammer on their foot." Ralph looked just as surprised as they were. Even with his bat like hearing it had taken him by surprise. The trainer and crobat suddenly looked at each other at the same time as their minds just realised who the scream had sounded like. "You don't think that it could have been…?" He was about to ask. Then there was another yell. This time it was a female voice and instead of yelling in pain they were yelling in anger. This sound was quickly followed by one word echoing in a boom throughout the route.

"FRANK!"

Winter and Joe looked back at each other and nodded, sadly.

"Yep, that's them." They both agreed and began running the direction of the yell. Ralph followed after them, still a little confused. After a minute of running they came across two three trainers standing in the middle of the road arguing. They were all wearing the same read and black uniforms with Ace cards printed onto the chest. Two of them were boy while the one doing most of the shouting was evidently a girl. She had Turquoise eyes and long curly blue hair flying about all over her head and her skin was a light tan colour and she stood slightly taller than the other two. The first boy, who was clearly human, was paler with chocolate brown eyes and short spiky green hair that stuck out more to the left, right and back then it did up. The third person, who was clearly not human even though he looked it right now, had dark red hair with a long point to the right side, his skin was slightly darker and he had shining yellow eyes. At the moment the shouting seemed to be directed at him. The other mail trainer was jumping around in pain, holding his left foot. A heavy metal net was lying on the floor where his foot had been. The girl was the one doing the shouting.

"How many times do I have to tell you, don't swing the net near one of us! That's the second time today Ross had been hurt. Now he's never going to stop moaning!" The other boy looked back with an expression of unwanted annoyance.

"It's not my fault…" He began. He girl immediately interrupted him.

"It's not my fault, Ruby! It's not my fault!" She mocked spitefully. "You always say 'It's not my fault' when you blatantly know that it is!" The boy with red hair shrunk into his skin, literally.

"This time it really wasn't." He moaned. "I was trying to catch a damned sentret when it jumped out of the grass and he got in the way." The girl, Ruby, just glared down at him.

"Stop with the damn excuses already!" She yelled. "Dear Arceus, you drive me insane, both of you!" The other boy, Ross, groaned and complained as he continued to hop about on one foot while grabbing the other.

"Could… you two… stop arguing… for one second." He said in between hops. It wasn't easy to make words come out when you were moving vigorously up and down in the air. Ruby just turned to him.

"Oh stop complaining." She told him, annoyed, her voice dropping from a shout to a bothered dialogue. "It's only a foot, you don't need it that much." Ross just looked at her.

"Do you even listen to what you say sometimes?" He asked. Ruby glared back. This seemed to give him the message. "Ah, sorry, right, shutting up now." He told her quickly, imitating closing his mouth with a zip. Ruby smiled.

"Right, thank you. Now maybe we could get on with catching pokémon without any more problems." Not realising from the distance that two trainers were watching her, she turned around a suddenly did realise

Joe and Winter smiled as they watched, turned to each other and, at the same time, said…

"Yep. That is them alright."

"Team Ace…" Joe whispered. "In Johto…" He sighed. "Oh dear."

"What are they even doing here?" Winter asked quietly. "I thought we left them in Kanto. Why would they want to come here?" Joe lulled his head sarcastically.

"Well you know Team Ace. They're probably hear to find cool and rare pokémon." He shrugged and walked forwards. "Well let's go and re-introduce ourselves." He chuckled and walked towards his old 'friends'.

Ruby and Frank meanwhile were still continuing to argue, this time about whose fault it was they weren't catching many good pokémon, leaving the grumpy and pained Ross on the side to complain to himself. In his boredom he looked around, saw the two trainers and one bat walking towards him and sighed. Oh great. It just got worse.

"Uh, Ruby." He called.

"What, Ross?" Ruby asked in an uncaring tone, hardly looking back. Ross pointed a subtle hand down the path they had been walking from.

"It's them." He said simply. Ruby was confused at first. Then she followed the direction he was pointing in. She gave a fed up groan.

"Oh no. What are they doing here? This is really the last thing we needed right now. More pestering trainers!" She groaned in a low voice which described perfectly how much she'd given up. She turned to Ross. "Get rid of them." She hissed. He looked hesitant.

"How?" He asked.

"I don't know. Battle them or something." She hissed back. Ross gulped. He turned to face the two trainers approaching.

"Uh, hello again." He called, trying to smile but not feeling like it. Joe and Winter didn't smile back either. They just looked at him.

"Hello, Ross." Joe said back unpleasantly. Joe and Winter hadn't had very good experiences with Team Ace in the past. They had first met in Viridian forest when they had tried to battle Joe and prove how cool they were. After Joe had won he had shown them just how cool they weren't which had made them think twice for at least a second and told them he was not to be messed with. This only resulted in them, instead of trying to win a battle against him, kidnap and sell Ralph so they could make a lot of money. This didn't work out for them either as there was never any real moment when they met that they could do this. After that point they had always met up in strange circumstances, like they were being attacked by a flock of spearow, or captured by a gang, or trapped on a cruise ship that's been taken over by team rocket, or even during Joe's fight with the Team Rocket boss. They weren't exactly good at getting their timing down. Thankfully these events had caused them to act less upon this idea, especially since Ralph had proven himself to be a much tougher target for them to take out. Still though, they seemed to be waiting for the right moment to act. They would probably wait a long time. Joe gesture a friendly wave in a manner that wasn't exactly friendly. "What are you lot doing in Johto?" He asked. Ross looked at Ruby.

"We could ask the same to you?" She told him. "Why are you in Johto? Catching more poor pokémon to loose battles with?" Joe smirked.

"I thought that was what you lot did?" He shot back at her. Ruby reddened. She looked at Ross. He looked back, nervously.

"Why are only the two of you here? Where's that queer friend of yours?" Ross asked. Joe looked a little unhappy about this question. It seemed insensitive towards someone who had helped him and Winter out multiple times in their journey in Kanto.

"If you mean Rocky, he stayed in Kanto." Joe said coldly. "Not like it's any of your business.

"No? Oh well, just asking out of plain curiosity." There was a short silence. Joe had a sudden question to ask. "Where did you guys go after Silph Co. How did you even know we were battling there?" He asked. All three of them gulped.

"Didn't we tell you? That Samuel guy found us and teleported us there."

"But why were you even willing to help? Aside from the obvious payment for doing so." Frank laughed.

"Ha. The sly moron didn't even keep his promise. 250,000 pokedollars. Yeah, right! That was very true!" Ruby hushed him sharply.

"Well, we're not evil." She told Joe. "We may not exactly like you but we're not going to let you get yourself killed. It was lucky we did turn up, otherwise we wouldn't have managed to help you. He was likely to kill you." Even Joe didn't want to admit it she was right. Archer had been about to attack him. He was overall grateful that they had fallen out of the sky when they did and landed on him, stopping him from attacking for a while… but the question still remained. How on earth did they even get up there in the first place?"

"So, instead of stay and see if we were okay after the battle, you just decided that you would run off and come here, to another region entirely." Joe tried to understand. Team Ace nodded.

"We decided that you probably weren't wanting us around afterwards anyway, especially after that whole 'nearly getting shot in the face' thing. We felt like there was a limit to how much we could annoy you or bother you and that wasn't the time. So we decided to move on and we came here. Not exactly a great place, I know, but it's good enough." Winter looked at them.

"You don't think Johto's a great place?" She asked. "Just look around. Look at it all. It's beautiful." The three Aces seemed to smirk at these words.

"Alright, calm down nature girl." Frank joked. Winter didn't let his words bother her much. As far as she was concerned a lump of pink jelly did not get to talk about her perception of the world.

"It's probably important to tell you we have managed to catch some new pokémon while here." Ross told them, trying to sound tougher then he was. "We're… uh… tougher then we were last time." Joe didn't seem to buy it.

"You found a pokémon with a sillier name then Crabby?" He asked. Ruby grunted. This was getting annoyingly longwinded.

"No. Crabby was a one of sarcastic joke name. I mean, if you caught a Krabby, what would you name it?" She asked him. Joe shrugged.

"I see your point." He admitted.

"But yes, we did catch some new and useful pokémon, if you must know." She continued. She gave a short sigh. "And I suppose you would like to battle us to find out if we're speaking the truth, right?" She asked. Surprisingly enough she didn't seem actually interested. She probably knew she was going to lose. Joe had beaten them every time they'd tried to battle him in the past.

"Did Ruby just ask you for a battle?" Winter whispered to Joe, unsure if she'd just heard what she said right. Joe nodded, looking just as surprised.

"I think she did." He agreed. He turned back to the watching Team Ace. "Uh, sure, of course I do." He told her. "So, how are we going to do this? I take on the both of you at the same time or you both take on me at the same time?" They didn't smile.

"No, we'll play fare. Me and Ross Vs you and your girlfriend there." Winter blushed.

"We're not a…" She went to say.

"Don't respond to her." Joe whispered. Winter's face lost the extra colour again. Joe looked at the two trainers and nodded. "Alright, Ace." He said. "You've got yourself a battle."

Within hardly a minute and a few steps from the trainers a battle was begun. Joe and Winter stood side by side on the southern side of the path, their side, while Ruby and Ross joined forces to take them on from the north side. Frank stood in between his team mates, back into his ditto form and watching with smug interest. All for pokémon trainers reached for their pokeballs and withdrew one each. Then they released the pokémon.

"Go Leaf!"

"Go River!"

"Go Claws!"

"Go Spikes!"

Four pokeballs flew through the air and released for very different looking pokémon. On Joe's corner his brand new, untainted to battle, chikorita appeared, whipping his head leaf from side to side in a defensive action. On Winter's corner her pokeball released a blue scaled and dragon winged seahorse pokémon with a long snout and curled up tail on which it balanced. River the Seadra had evolved at some point during Joe's battle with the Rocket Boss from her much smaller horsea form. Now she was definitely a lot more powerful and a lot more intimidating. Joe wondered at first why she didn't bring out Staryu, the strongest of her pokémon, but he did come quickly to realise that there wasn't a need for it to be out. On Ross and Ruby's side of the field they released a nidorina and a nidorino, aptly named Claws and Spikes. Both pokémon looked partially similar, at least in the same species, except for several major differences. Spikes the nidorino was slightly larger than his sibling and was purple skinned with more, longer spikes on his back in a line down his spine, a smaller horn on his head, longer ears, wider, bigger legs, smaller eyes and a shorter tail. He was clearly more of the powerhouse of the two. Claws the nidorina, on the other hand, was slightly smaller, blue skinned, she had less spines on her back but they were thicker than Spikes', a longer tail, a smaller head, bigger eyes and smaller front arms which allowed her to reach and grab with, while her back legs took all the weight. She was the only one of the two of them who could stand on her hind legs without falling over. Both pokémon nodded to each other to confirm their alliance and began to growl, hopping to intimidate their opponents to make the battle a bit easier. This didn't work on River, but sadly Leaf was younger and was new to all this, so seeing these two monstrous rabbit creatures in front of him made him feel weak and terrified. He backed up a little. Ross laughed.

"Hah. That's one of your new pokémon? Who did you get rid of to add that? It's already scared of Spikes and Claws and they haven't even started battling yet." Joe shot him a look. But, to be truthful to himself, he was already a little worried. Would Leaf be strong enough to take on these two in his first battle? Maybe it had been a bad choice to send him out first. He focused his thoughts. It wouldn't help him if he kept questioning whether or not he could do something. Leaf would be fine. He believed in him.

"Don't let them get to you." Winter told him. Joe nodded.

"I won't." He promised her. Without another word the battle began. Ross and Ruby made their commands first.

"Claws, use scratch!"

"Spikes, use horn attack!"

They called simultaneously. Immediately the two nidorins charged, readying their two attacks and aiming for both pokémon at the same time.

"Smokescreen in front of you, then use bubble!" Winter called.

"Evade, then use tackle!" Joe instructed. The two Ace pokémon lunged their attacks and the two Glende and Kitoshi pokémon evaded. River released a ball of black smoke from her muzzle which engulfed the area of ground in front of her, surrounding Claws in thick smog as she attacked. River took a few steps, or rather pulls, back and released a small flurry of bubbles into the cloud. There was a couple of popping sounds intermixed with a pain filled yell and Claws came running out the other side of the smoke field, coughing and glaring back at the grounded seahorse. Leaf meanwhile was having a bit of a harder time. He had successfully managed to dodge the sharp horn of Spikes before it impaled him but his attacks were hardly doing anything. He tackled the much larger nidorino in the side while he was trying to turn but found he only bounced back off of it. Spikes smirked and swung his head around, knocking Leaf away with the side of his jaw. Leaf tried again only to get kicked in the face by a flying double kick and rolled away, cowering in pain from the rampaging beast.

"Joe, Leaf can't take any more head on attacks. He needs to keep his eye on evasion rather than attack." Joe turned to her and nodded. He had an idea.

"Leaf, use growl!" He decided. Leaf stood up, turned to Spikes who was getting ready to attack again and stood his ground, looking stern. River meanwhile was managing to confuse and outwit Claws with ease. The stroppy, grumpy, cumbersome beast was lunging at her every chance she got, which meant that all river had to do was move out of the way. This was leading to a quite entertaining to watch game of ring-around-a-rosy with a seadra and a nidorina. Every evasion or so River would release a couple more bubbles which would batter the nidorina and cause her to get even angrier. Finally, once she'd reached boiling point, she charged, head lowered and aiming to ram right into the seahorse pokémon. River simply leaned up on her tail as it extended out of a curl and pushed herself aside. Claws was left charging away into the distance where she finally slowed to a skid and dug her way through the grass. River couldn't help but feel proud of this achievement.

Spikes charged, his horn lowered to strike Leaf in the chest and flip him over his head. As he got closer Leaf began to create a low grumbling sound with his small slit plant mouth. As Spikes got lower this grumble got louder. Spikes, upon hearing it, came to a surprised halt barely inches away from his target. He looked down at the small sentient moving vegetable which looked back, unafraid and unintimidated. It was growling at him. This _thing_ was growling at him. A slow malicious laugh began to escape from his beaked mouth. This turned into guffaws. A vegetable was growling at him. Spikes had to cover his eyes with his front feet, he was laughing so hard that tears were forming. Leafs grow fell quiet. Why was it laughing at him? Was he really that unintimidating?" Leaf felt a little sad inside.

"Leaf, strike him!" Joe called. Leaf looked at his new trainer, then at the hysterical giant rabbit. Spiked had collapsed onto is front, laughing into the road so hard he was making the floor vibrate. Leaf narrowed his eyes, whipped his leaf and sent a flurry of sharp edged leaves frying from it. The leaves struck Spikes in the side… and did nothing. Spikes moved a leg from one eye so he could look at Leaf. He then continued to laugh even more. He laughed and laughed, punching the ground with his hilarity. Leaf looked crest fallen. He was so unthreatening to this creature not only could he not hurt it, but he also could not even make himself look like a threat. He turned around and sat, feeling depressed. Joe and Ralph looked at each other. They had known that Team Ace and their pokémon could be prats but they had never expected this kind of reaction, especially in such a harsh way on such a young pokémon. In one glance Joe told Ralph exactly what needed to be done. Leaf began to form tears under his eyes. Then suddenly he felt something larger and more intimidating pass him. He looked up and turned to see Ralph overhead, not looking down at him but rather the still laughing nidorino. There was a gruff cough. Spikes lowered a leg and looked up. He saw Ralph looming over him. He jumped to his feet. Finally a real challenge! He thought. As it turned out Ralph was more than a real challenge. The crobat gave him a stare, then gestured back to Leaf and gave Spines a disapproving growl. In human speech this would have probably translated into 'Ya shouldn't a hurt the boy's feelin's like that. Now Imma have to teach you a less'n in manners' Spikes lunged horn first. Ralph dodged aside in a flash and struck Spikes on the side with his wing. Spikes hit his side on the road and got back up, now all attention taken of the puny chikorita and on the fearsome crobat. He lunged again and Ralph flew out the way. He kicked back with both legs but Ralph dodged them both. He charged and Ralph struck again, this time hitting him in the side of the head and knocking him out cold. The crobat folded his wings and nodded. That was one cruel nidorino taken care of. Leaf looked up at him with admiration. Ralph just nodded down to him and returned to Joe's side. There was a following uproar from Team Ace.

"Hey, that's cheating. You can't send out a second pokémon to help out!" Ruby claimed. Joe just shrugged.

"I didn't." He said. "I sent Ralph out to take Leaf's place in battle. That's by the rules. I can switch out one pokémon for another during battle if I wish to." Ross and Ruby tried to think of a good argument against this.

"Well… You should at least say you're going to do so. You can't just do it and expect people to recognise that."

"She's actually right." Winter added. "You do need to let your opponent know in some way you're swapping out." Joe looked at her.

"Whose side are you on?" He asked. Winter looked a little ashamed.

"Sorry." She muttered. Joe looked to Leaf now.

"Sorry. That was a bit of a tough enemy for you to take on. I'll find a weaker one for you to battle next time." He promised. Leaf smiled although he still looked sad about how poorly he did. There was a crashing sound from the left. They turned. River had just defeated Claws. The large blue rabbit lay in an uncomfortable pile on the road, the blue seahorse coiled up on her back and looking the same usually unhappy eyes as normal. Ross and Ruby groaned.

"Well, you defeated our two pokémon again." Ruby muttered.

"I guess we'll have to resort to plan B" Ross agreed. Joe and Winter looked a little puzzled.

"Plan B?" Joe asked. "You guys had a plan A to begin with?" Team Ace ignored him. Instead they withdrew their two unconscious pokémon and pulled out two new pokeballs. They readied them in their hands and released.

"Go Pollen!" Ruby called.

"Go Star!" Ross called.

The two pokeballs flew through the air and released two entirely new pokémon. The first was a small, fat, pink creature with tiny yellow eyes, pointy ears, four short stump legs and two leaf shaped wings. It looked like a natural abomination. The second was an incest creature with a red head and back, and a white underbelly. On its back were five large black spots. It had six long arms with fat hand tips, big happy bug eyes and two black antennae. It's back opened up and a pair of see-through wings lifted it above the ground where it hovered a whole foot from the floor. A hoppip and a ledyba, as the pokédex named them. These two pokémon looked like a joke. They hardly even looked like pokémon at all, and, considering the other pokémon Team Ace had and had had on their team, this was a real down step for them. They clearly couldn't tell this however, because all three of them were smiling smugly as if they knew the winning lottery numbers but weren't going to tell anyone else.

"Now you're in trouble." Frank taunted, unwittingly unaware of how wrong he was. Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"You've got this one." She told him, withdrawing River from the field and stepping back. Joe smiled. This would be a good chance to test Leaf's metal… or plant matter, as it may be for him.

"You ready to do this one alone, Leaf?" Joe asked. The young chikorita nodded, his long head leaf flapping forward and covering his eyes. He puffed it back and nodded properly. Team Ace snorted as one, creating a short but unholy sound of suction.

"Pah! You don't stand a chance two against one." Ross told him. Joe raised a taunting eyebrow.

"Leaf, use razor leaf!" Joe called. It was a relatively good idea to start a double battle with a move that can hit two pokémon. Leaf swung his head and threw a flurry of leaves at the opponents. Both were hit but neither seemed hurt by the attack. Star probably took more damage of the two because he wasn't a grass type. Then it was Team Ace's turn to shout commands.

"Splash!" Ruby called.

"Tackle!" Ross called.

Their two pokémon rushed forward at slow, slow speeds. Leaf seemed confused. Was this battle even real?

"Leaf, stand your ground!" Joe called. Leaf did as he was told. The opposing pokémon grew closer. Leaf stood his ground still. Then Joe made his next command. "Tackle!" He called. Leaf lashed out, ramming into pollen, ramming into her with his side knocking her back as she… splashed. Her move did nothing at all. It was just pointless. Star actually managed to pose a bit of a threat at least. He actually knew a useful attack. Star lunged shoulders first and would have hit Leaf if he hadn't spotted him and moved out of the way just in time. He returned the attack with his own tackled which knocked the useless ladybug back weakly. This went on for a while. Leaf was thrashing the two pokémon with almost no effort put in. It had gone from being too tough to being too easy with literally a single withdrawal. Ross and Ruby could only watch as their pokémon had the effort beaten out of them.

"How…" Ruby tried.

"It's…" Ross gulped.

"How are we loosing?" They both shouted. Joe found that he was chuckling slightly. Leaf was having an easy time. While it wasn't exactly a challenge at least it allowed his pokémon to feel better about itself. He quickly remembered normal trainer etiquette and he hid his smile behind his face again. A few seconds later and both remaining Ace pokémon hit the floor. Ross and Ruby stood open mouthed. Their jaws nearly touched the floor. The shut them again and glared simultaneously at Joe.

"You… you…" Ruby said, still baffled by how easily they were beaten.

"We just caught these pokémon." Ross complained. "We've been training for days. I imagine that piny plant has been on your team for hardly a minute. How do you keep beating us?!" He demanded. Joe shrugged.

"Are those four pokémon the only pokémon on both your teams?" He asked. Ross and Ruby looked humiliated.

"Yes. We… uh… gave up the others." Joe actually looked surprised by this.

"Why?" Winter asked them. They shrunk away a little.

"Uh… our father… kind of… took them from us." Ruby admitted. Both trainers looked shocked.

"What? Why would he do that?" Winter asked. They shrugged.

"Because he thought we weren't training them properly. He has a habit of doing that to us." Ross explained. "He'll probably take a few more from us now, thanks to you two." Joe and Winter looked a little ashamed.

"Well I'm sorry, but it's not really our fault. If anything it's your own. You should treat your pokémon better and train them more rather then throw them straight into battles." Ross and Ruby growled at him.

"Well I think maybe we should go and fix up our friends." Frank interrupted. "Before anything else can…" He didn't even manage to finish his one intelligent sentence of the day before something interrupted him. There was a sudden and joltingly surprising loud bang from the distance. It sounded like a gunshot. Everyone jumped and turned to look further up the path. Ralph covered his ringing ears, his sensitive hearing proving it had weaknesses as well as strengths. Leaf looked terrified again. He scuttled back and hid between Joe's legs. Joe knelt down and scooped him up in his arms, holding the shaking root close. For a plant creature Leaf was surprisingly warm to hold.

"What was that?" Winter asked, still trying to get over the sudden shock of the loud sound.

"A gun." Joe muttered. He processed the word and sound together. The product that came out was Team Rocket. His eyes narrowed. He let out a low growl. "Come on." He said and walked of, heading towards the sound. Winter followed immediately after him.

"Joe, wait. What are you doing?" She asked, running in front of him. He looked at her, no pity, fear or natural human kindness in his eyes.

"Winter, we can't just stand around. Let me past." He told her. "It's Team Rocket."

"You don't know that." Winter told him. "It might not be. It could just be some people out hunting."

"Then we're going to find out if it is." Joe said simply. He pushed her aside and ran of into the grass, heading up a hill and towards where the sound had come from. She sighed and looked at Ralph who had taken up levitation beside her.

"If you would maybe help stop him now and then we wouldn't get into these incidents." She told him. Ralph looked surprised. She was having a go at him for Joe's running off. He gave her a 'what could I do?' face. Apparently that's an expression which exists. The two of them didn't hesitate any longer. They ran after their friend. Team Ace watched quite surprised.

"Are they seriously going towards the gunshot?" Frank asked.

"I think they are doing exactly that." Ross told him, also surprised. Ruby huffed. She withdrew her pokémon and began walking.

"Well come on." She told them. They looked at her.

"Where are we going?" Ross asked. Ruby looked at him like he was dumb. To her, he was dumb.

"Well, numbnuts…" She said, unkindly. "We're going to Violet City to get our team healed up. Unless you had a better idea." She asked. Ross shook his head quickly. He knew that arguing with Ruby would only lead to him ending up with a few fingers bandaged… if he was lucky.

"No, I'm good." He told her. She smiled vindictively.

"Ok then. Now come on!"

Joe rushed through the tall grass, nearly invisible in it. The reeds stood taller than his head. He was only just able to see above it. Behind him he could hear Ralph and Winter catching up. In fact he could see Ralph flying above him. Sometimes he hated having a pokémon who was faster than he was. Ralph flew past him and looked over the tall grass field. Then he stopped. He saw several figures in black clothing standing in a clearing not too far from where Joe was. He growled. Team Rocket. So they were here after all. He dived, heading for his friend to stop him in time. Joe was running forwards, then suddenly he stopped as a large purple form landed in front of him. He jumped in surprise.

"Ralph!" Joe snapped. "You really shouldn't do that. You're going to kill me one d…" Ralph held a wing to Joe's mouth, cutting him off. Joe complained but Ralph ignored him. Joe finally managed to push Ralph's wing away. "What are you doing?" He asked. Ralph shushed him and pointed through the long grass. He held a wing to his ear. Joe listened carefully. Then he realised that he could hear voices not too far away. He stopped and stood still, holding leaf closer. "What is that?" He asked in a quieter voice. He peered closer. It sounded close by and the speaker sounded very agitated. In fact they sounded almost worried. Winter caught up with the two of them now and was immediately shushed by Joe before she could say anything.

"What's going on?" She asked. Joe held a hand to his ear.

"Listen." He whispered. They listened. There was definitely a voice coming from somewhere nearby. Joe crept forwards, trying not to make too much sound. As he did so the voices got louder. He could make out some of what they were saying. Some of them were quieter than others, but some words he could make out.

"I don't believe it!" Someone cried.

"Shut her up!" Someone louder and angrier snapped.

"Is it okay?" A younger, more effeminate voice asked. The voices were right ahead of them now. Joe crouched to the ground and peered through the reeds in front of him. In a small grass clearing where three figures in black uniforms with red R's on their clothing. Joe subdued a grown in his throat. He withdrew Leaf before he could see anything that was likely to unfurl.

"Team… Rocket!" He whispered, sounding nothing like his usual self. Leaf shivered in his tightening grip. Ralph put a wing on his friend's shoulder, only to have it shrugged off. Winter looked through the grass at the figures.

"What are they doing?" She wondered. Joe didn't respond. She looked at him. "Joe?" She asked.

"Who cares?" He replied, speaking a little louder. "They are back and they're acting. We should act, too. Take them out, now!" He whispered. She looked at him.

"You can't be serious?" She whispered back. They're three fully grown adults. There's just the two of us. And they're probably have a gun. We can't risk our own lives to take out three grunts." Joe smirked, horrible.

"But we have… Ralph." He told her. Ralph looked surprised to be mentioned so suddenly. He didn't want a part in this conversation. He was quite happy not getting involved. Winter punched Joe on the shoulder.

"Don't be so stupid." She snapped. "He can't risk his life either on a grudge. We'll wait and watch." She explained.

If the two of them had been paying attention to what the rocket grunts were saying, they would have heard the following conversation.

"Bax, what have you done?" The tall grunt said, looking at the body. A shorter, plumper grunt, who looked just as shocked, shrugged, trying to defend his actions.

"I… I just… It lung'd… I reacted on instincts… I didn't means to…" He said in a horrific accent. It constantly sounded like he was chewing on his own fat. He pointed a pudgy finger at the third grunt. "It waz 'er faults. She distracted me wiv 'er complainin'!" He argued. The third grunt, a young girl, held back tears. She already felt awful about what had just happened. An azumarill stood beside her, holding its ears over its eyes, afraid of what it had just witnessed. The tall grunt glared wide eyed and shocked at his friend.

"You just shot it!" He told him. "Our job was to catch it and take its eggs! You screwed the whole thing up!" The fat grunt backed up. The girl began to sob quietly. The fat grunt snarled and began shouting.

"Oh shurrup, you stupid littl' b…"

"Baxter! Leave her alone! She's been through enough already!" The taller grunt told him. The fat grunt growled and sneered at her.

"If she 'adn't tried to protect it, its wouldn't 'ave attacked and I wouldn't 'ave shot it." He said. "It's 'er fault." He fidgeted in his thick skin. "Look, we has the eggs. If we leaves now we may be able ta get outa dis wit'out any punishments from his lordship. Gilbert and Moggy iz back up at der jeep. If we hurry we can makes it back before they goes without us!" The tall grunt pushed him.

"You go. You screwed up so it's what you'll do anyway. You mess it up and I get the blame. Even if we bring the eggs we'll get flogged for killing the mother. You're such a dumb stupid fat ugly…!"

"Let's take them out while we're arguing." Joe muttered.

"No!" Winter told him. "You'll just get hurt."

"So will they if they don't leave now!" Joe said. He went to stand up. As he did so his arm brushed a reed, creating a loud rustle. The fat grunt suddenly spun around, raised his submachine gun and fired into the grass. Joe, Winter and Ralph hit the floor as a flurry of pullets passed overhead. The other grunt grabbed the gun from his friend's hands and pulled it away, out of his grip.

"DAMNIT, BAXTER, PUT THE FREAKING GUN DOWN!" He snapped. Clearly they were getting very nervous and fidgety. They fell quiet again, trying to stay calm and come up with a plan.

"There's someone there." The girl said suddenly. Joe and Winter held their breath. Had they actually seen them? The two grunts looked at her.

"What' she on abou'?" The fat grunt asked. The taller grunt threw the gun away, shrugging as he did so.

"What are you on about, Crystal?" He asked.

"Crystal?" Joe muttered. That name. It was the name the little girl had told them was her sisters. Joe suddenly had a horrible feeling. "No." He muttered. "That can't be true! Why would any child want to be in Team Rocket?" The girl stood up from where she had been sitting, her ears sharp and listening.

"There!" She said suddenly. "Didn't you two hear that?" She asked. She looked straight at Joe, not seeing him from within the reeds. "There's someone watching us." The grunts suddenly jumped into action.

"What?" They both asked, looking around alertly.

"Where?" The fat one ask. Joe shrunk further back into the grass, still lying on his front. He looked at Winter.

"They know we're here." He told her. She looked worried.

"We should go." She told him. This time he agreed with her.

"Yes." He said. They were about to crawl away when Joe realised they were one person short. "Hang on. Where's Ralph?" They looked around but could see no sign of him.

"Let's get going, quick, before the boss gets to sus…" The tall grunt was saying. Suddenly something man sized, purple, winged and angry smacked into him from the side and darted back into the grass. The three grunts looked at where it disappeared. The tall grunt began pushing himself back up, looking winded and surprised. "What was that?" He asked. The Azumarill huddled up next to the girl grunt, looking very afraid. It hadn't stopped crying since. The two male grunts looked at each other.

"Let's go. Now!" The fat one shouted. The two of them immediately turned and went for the path they had taken. The taller one stopped and turned to the girl.

"Crys, come on, or we'll leave you behind!" He snapped. She stood up sadly and followed, holding the azumarill's hand and bringing it with her. They were gone and out of range within seconds. A minute after they left Joe and Winter felt it was safe to come out. They stood up and stepped into the small clearing, looking around for the first time at what the grunts had been there for. Ralph came out from the other side. Joe was expecting him to be laughing or smiling, which is how he usually was after he'd managed to scare someone away, but instead he looked deeply solemn. He looked incredibly serious and angrier then Joe had ever seen him before.

"Ralph, what were you thinking, attacking them like that? You could have been hurt!" Ralph didn't listen to him. He just stared of into space. Joe became concerned by his lack of a response. "Ralph?" He asked. "Ralph, what's wrong?" Ralph looked at him suddenly, sending a horrible shiver down Joe's spine. His eyes showed grief, pure grief for another. He was enraged, distraught, disturbed and terrified all at the same time. His eyes shifted to the grass to his left. He put a wing on Joe's shoulder and turned him to face it. Joe looked into the grass and his stomach turned at the sight. Inside a small grass reed den camouflaged in the field of green was a very unique and rare looking pokémon lying on a dry reed nest. The pokémon was a strange looking bird, with two tiny wings on its back and a small head shaped like the bottom half of a broken egg shell with three blunt bone spikes sticking out of the back of its head. It had a long neck and a fat body with small arms and legs with large fat feet. It had tiny eyes and strange blue and red patterns on its body. The grass under it was red wet. Joe gulped down a bugged of disgust and sadness. What had they done to this creature? Why had they needed to kill it? What threat could it possibly pose to them? He growled under his breath. "Those monsters!" He cursed. A tear began to fall from his eye. He raised a fist to the air. "YOU MONSTERS!" Winter wasn't take the sight much better. She was struggling to fight her own personal need to cry at it. She stepped forwards lightly and put a hand on the creatures head. Then she looked back.

"It's alive." She told them. Ralph and Joe looked up.

"What?" Joe asked, quickly joining her side. Winter nodded.

"Here. Feel." She said, taking Joe's hand and placing it on the pokémon's neck. "Do you feel that?" She asked. Joe concentrated. Gently his fingers picked up the feel of a slow, desperade 'thud, thud, thud thud, thud, thud.'

"A pulse." He whispered. "It's still alive. How." Then, to his amazement, the creature's eyes opened weakly, revealing two small black eyes under white eyelids. It looked at him, then at Winter, then at Ralph, then back to him. Joe couldn't help but look back. It seemed to be focusing its attention on him, too. "What pokémon is it?" He asked, on the futile belief that somehow Winter would know. He didn't expect a response.

"A togetic." Winter said without pause. Joe looked at her.

"How do you…?" He began.

"My grandmother owned one before she passed on." She explained. "Shurui, it was called. I don't know what happened to it after." She stopped. They both stared at the togetic as it stared back. A smile came onto its face. It didn't seem bothered at all that it was hurt or could hearly breath, it just continued to smile up at them, at Joe specifically.

"To…ge…tic." It moaned, struggling to make the words form. Joe reached out and put his hand on its head.

"It's ok." He whispered, calmly. "You're safe now. The rockets are gone. You can rest in peace."

"To…ge?" It asked. Joe shook his head.

"They got away with your eggs." He admitted. "I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do to stop them." Togepic looked saddened.

"To…g." It muttered. It struggled to move its arms and reached for something underneath it. It plunged its hand into the nest it was lying on top of and slowly, weakly, pulled out one single remaining egg, covered in the same red and blue pattern covering its body. It placed it on the floor and rolled it towards Joe. "To…ge…tic?" It asked. Joe looked at the egg. It looked ok and unharmed, but it was asking him to take it from her. He didn't know if he could do that. He looked into the togetic's eyes and saw pure desperation looking back. She knew how mortal she was. She wanted a safe future for the egg and the child born from it. Without hesitation and following his own instincts, Joe lifted the egg into his arms and nodded.

"Ok." He told her. "I'll take care of it. I promise." Togetic smiled weakly, lying back on the ground as its body lost its strength.

"To…gi…p…p" It fell quiet. Its eyes closed again and slowly the breathing fell into stillness. Togetic was gone. Joe sighed. He had hoped that this wouldn't happen again in his life, but seeing a pokémon pass on before his own eyes brought back memories of the last time he had seen it. The day Sting died. He shuddered as he tried to repress them memory again. He looked at the egg. It was moving about inside, but whether that meant it was going to hatch yet, he didn't know.

"That's horrible." Winter muttered, her head lowered and sadness in her eyes. She was taking it very badly. "Why would someone do this to such an amazing creature? Who could be heartless enough?" Joe didn't know how to answer that question. Ralph put a wing on his hand. Joe looked at him. Was he crying? Joe looked back at the egg. Why had Togetic given it to him? Winter was probably the one more suited to taking care of it. She at least was a girl and had natural maternal instincts. He had no idea how to take care of an egg, let alone the baby that would hatch from it. But he'd have to give it a try. He'd made a promise.

"We should go." Joe told his friends. "Before the rockets decide to come back." He stood up, carrying the egg in his arms. Winter stood up and joined him, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah." She agreed. "I mean what are we standing around here for? Let's go." She grabbed Joe's wrist and walked away with him, head lowered and sad. Joe looked at her. He had never seen Winter so sad, so depressed before. This was nothing like her. They walked away into the tall grass, Ralph following after them, leaving Togetic and her home hidden in the grass where she could rest in peace.


	4. Chapter 4: Falkner: Master of Flight

The end of route 30 was in sight. Joe, Winter and Ralph were glad to nearly be off it. Their experience in Johto so far had been interesting to say the least. While they had caught a couple of new pokémon and met up with some old 'friends', they had also discovered that Team Rocket were in fact back and they had failed to stop a thief from running away with two pokémon and save the life a mother Togetic. Joe had promised to take on its only child remaining and take care of it when it hatched, but the fact he couldn't save it was still haunting him. Winter seemed to be taking it especially badly. While Joe and Ralph had both been saddened by the event they had just seen, it was her who had taken it worse. Maybe it was because it was a mother and she's a girl, meaning there's some kind of maternal fear for both of them. But Winter isn't a mother. Maybe it's just because of how close she had gotten to it. Or maybe it was to do with the memory of her grandmother's Togetic. Whatever reason it was, she was suffering quite badly. Joe had to find a way to cheer her up. When they reached the end of the route and moved onto route 31, heading for Violet City, Joe had an idea for something he could do. He decided to have a race. He and Winter would run from one end to the other and see who got there first. Route 31 wasn't very long and was basically a straight line so a race was completely possible. She agreed and Ralph decided to watch overhead, providing some kind of invisible overhead camera view. Joe had made sure to put the egg safely in his bag before he starter and strapped the zip shut tight so there was no chance of it falling out. The race began and the two trainers sprinted, running like the wind for the city walls. Ralph followed from above. Winter took the lead for a second, but Joe sped up, trying to keep ahead. This dogfight style running kept up all the way. Quickly the trainers came to find their focus was less on their running and more on the world around them. They looked at the long grass fields, they saw the birds in the trees, they watched the fish swim through the river. And, with energy in their limbs and oxygen in their lungs, they realised just how beautiful it all was. Thankfully all this cheered Winter up again. It helped her forget about the fact she had seen a creature die a while ago. They reached the end of the road, no longer caring about a race but instead glad they had done something to take their mind of how tough life could be. Winter thanked him for making her feel better about everything. Joe smiled and told her it was nothing. They walked into the city, joining back up with Ralph and heading for the pokémon centre near the entrance to town.

* * *

Joe placed his pokeballs on the counter for the nurse to heal up and, once they were all in the machine and being healed, he casually walked across to the PC. He switched it on, inserted his trainer ID and logged into the mail section. He picked the recipient and clicked 'Call'. The screen read the message 'Please wait for connection', with several small dots lighting up underneath as the call was sent. Half a minute later the connection was made and the recipient appeared on the screen. A mid-thirties greying haired man appeared, smiling wisely.

"Hello, Joe. How's it going?" The man asked. Joe smiled back.

"Hey, Uncle Walker." He said, a warm grin rising from his shut jaw. "I'm fine. Me and Winter are in Johto, now."

"Was the journey ok? Did you only just arrive? I thought that the walk to New Bark Town was much shorter than that." Jo shook his head.

"No, we made it to New Bark fine. I'm actually calling from Violet City right now." His uncle looked a little surprised.

"Wow, you've already made it that far. You're making quick progress." He raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you didn't call me last night? Were you too busy traveling with your friend?" Joe shrugged his shoulders hesitantly.

"Wwwwwell, actually that's not the reason." He explained. "You see we were staying at the New Bark Town Pokémon Centre, except that in the night someone broke into Professor Elm's lab and stole two of his pokémon. The police locked down the centre in their search." He scoffed. "Yet they failed to notice that the thief was actually watching from the distance. Ralph and I chased after him, but…" Joe subconsciously rubbed the bruise which had appeared where he was punched. "He was too fast for us." His uncle seemed to question this.

"Really? Too fast for Ralph? Not likely." He squinted into the screen. "Is that a mark on your cheek?" He asked. Joe covered his face with a hand.

"What mark?" He asked. Walker looked concerned.

"Did someone punch you?" He asked. Joe shook his head.

"No. I just… ran into something." He lied. He saw his uncle's unbelieving stare. He sighed. "Ok, the thief knocked me out when I caught up with him. Don't be worried, I'm okay now. I was just a little dizzy afterwards."

"Did they catch the thief who attacked you?" His uncle ask. Joe shook his head sadly.

"No, they didn't." His uncle looked disappointed, not at him but more at the police who had failed to do their job.

"I imagine that Professor Elm isn't taking it well." He said. "I met him once, when he came to meet Oak in his lab to discuss pokédex information a few years ago. He seemed like a very finicky OCD type, nice enough but a bit neat." He chuckled. "I imagine he was nagging the police into action all the way through the enquiry." Joe nodded, chuckling a little himself.

"Yeah, he did." He agreed. He shook the laughing off and moved to a new subject. "Johto's been pretty interesting so far." He told his only family. "Aside from the theif and the break in, I've also added a couple of new pokémon to my team. I'm now at the number 4 and expecting a 5th." His uncle's eyebrows raised with interest.

"Oh, really? What are these new pokémon you caught?" He paused, then added. "And how are you expecting a fifth?" Joe held up a hand.

"Well, When I arrived I caught a marill within the first few hours and named it Mar. I also got a chikorita from Elm as an arrival present for Johto training. So far they both seem to be pretty cool pokémon. I haven't used Mar in battle yet and Leaf needs a lot of practice and training, but I'm sure they'll both do very well." He slid his bulging bag off his back and placed it gently on the ground. "But there's also another something I ought to show you." He added, unzipping the bag and pulling slowly out the white, red and blue patterned egg from within. His uncle's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Is that a pokémon egg?" He asked.

Joe nodded. "Yes, it is." He said.

"How did you get hold of one?" His uncle asked. Joe seemed to look saddened suddenly.

"It's not exactly a happy story." He started, taking a slow and heavy breath. "Me and Winter found a dying Togetic on Route 30. Her nest had been raided by hunters and she had been shot. She managed to save one last egg and she passed it onto me for some reason. There was nothing we could do to save it." He stopped, watching his uncle on the screen. The wise middle-aged man was shaking his head sadly.

"It's horrible to think that there's people out there that would do that. Especially to such a rare and beautiful being such as Togetic." He looked up again. Joe gulped.

"I have worse news." He said. His uncle tilted his head.

"What is it?" He asked simply. He left the air open for his nephew to speak. Joe closed his eyes, trying to find a way to give the information. It wasn't exactly something he wanted to say."

"Team Rocket's back." He said finally. "They were the ones who killed Togetic and stole the eggs. There were only three of them and they seemed quiet spooked by the time we arrived but it's a clear sign that the rockets are beginning to act again." His uncle was silent for a while. Then, when he did speak again, the response he gave took Joe by surprise.

"Are you sure that it wasn't just a group of grunts acting by their own choice?" He asked him. Joe looked shocked.

"No. It was a rocket mission. I heard them mention their leader multiple times. It clearly had something to do with whatever they're planning." His uncle held up a hand to quiet him.

"Joe, listen one second, please." Joe fell silent. His uncle sighed. "Look, I spoke with Professor Oak recently on the subject. If the rockets were acting in Johto he'd be the first to hear about it over here. And he hasn't heard anything yet, so it's still possible that they aren't acting. That group you saw could have just been a bunch of fanatics. There's been no sightings or proof of team rocket anywhere else in the region yet." Joe was getting angry now.

"They are back!" He snapped. "They are. I saw them with my own eyes. They had a young girl with them. They're the ones who've been kidnapping children and tricking them away from home. What more proof do you need?" Walker was quiet for a while. He rubbed the side of his head, unsure what to make of the news.

"Why would Team Rocket want to steal children away?" He asked. "What purpose would that have to them?" Joe shrugged.

"I don't know but it is what they've been doing. And it's not just kids, either. People have been disappearing all over the region. I think that the Rockets are trying to build up some kind of army." His uncle looked quite concerned now. Still he was trying to remain calm and open minded to the news his nephew had just given him.

"The problem is, even if that's true, we can't act till they do, otherwise we could risk taunting them to act quicker or more viciously. Archer's a madman. Who knows what he's really planning." He paused, trying to think of the right words. "Joe, I know that you want to jump straight into stopping him, but we need to wait for them to make a move first. I want you to call me if they do appear again and I'll get in touch if I do hear anything from here." Joe sighed.

"Alright, uncle." He agreed. His uncle smiled at him through the camera screen.

"Ok. I'll keep an ear open in case I hear anything on this end. Have fun raising your new pokémon and tell me what the egg hatches into."

"I will." Joe told him. He reached to press the delink button.

"Oh, and by the way…" His uncle interrupted suddenly. Joe paused. "If you're taking on the gym leader at any point you might want to make sure that Pippy stays close, hint, hint." He winked. Joe switched the video link off.

A while later he and Winter were standing in the streets of Violet City, with the throng of cars, people, pokémon and shops all around them. The pokémon centre had been close to the edge of town, but where they were now was pretty much the centre. Everywhere they looked something was going on. Further to the west of the city was a pokémon school for teaching young children of the Johto region how to live with, raise and train pokémon. A noble cause in this current world. To the furthers north end was a small island on a deep pond that could only be reached via two person boat taxis or an old and mossy yet stable looking stone bridge. On the island was a withered, tilting, wooden tower, standing at least 5 stories high. It swayed slightly in the light wind, as if it was standing on a single pillar. And, having looked up a little information on it, the two trainers had in fact found that that was exactly what it was doing. Instead of having a pillar of each corner of the tower to hold it down, the tower had one large single pillar in the centre of the tower to hold it up. This was supposed to keep it standing stronger. Joe watched the swaying and felt sick just from that. He dreaded to know what it would feel like to stand on the top level. But where they stood now was what they had stayed in Violet City for. Joe, Winter and Ralph all look up to see the roof and sign of the pokémon gym, standing before them like a symbol of accomplishment. It was a much larger builder then the ones in Kanto, especially the roof which was at least twice the height, but that might have been something to do with the pokémon types used inside. There was a small sign on the outside of the building, next to the door, with an image of a grey predatory bird swooping in for the kill carved into the wood. Under the image the name 'Falkner' was scratched, indicating clearly who ran the gym. The three friends looked to one another.

"Seems legitimate." Winter muttered, looking at the sign again. "If a little too confident in itself."

"Well standing around out here isn't going to do us any favours." Joe told them as he stepped forwards into the sliding glass doors. They slid open with a quiet squeak and let him pass through. "Let's go introduce ourselves." He walked into the large building and Ralph and Winter hurried after him, leaving the door to slide shut again behind them. As they stepped into the room they immediately noticed that there was nothing in the building at all. The entire room was completely barren. Upon looking up they realised that, actually, the room wasn't empty, it was just that everything in it was very high up. Above them huge nets hung from the sealing and large bird cages swung from lo hanging chains. In the middle a large buoyant stadium floated on air above a huge net, circled by bird pokémon of all kinds. The trainers couldn't help bust gasp at it all.

"How on earth did they get all that up there?" Winter couldn't help but ask. Joe shrugged, as did Ralph. As they gazed up in aw they realised that something on the far end ahead of them was slowly grinding its way down the wall towards them. It was some kind of make shift lift, made out of tied up wooden planks and a large metal cranking gear imbedded into the wall itself. On the edge was a wooden railing and a metal plate with a couple of buttons on it for going up and down. It seemed to fit the décor that the building was going for, natural and aeronautical. "Do you think we should stand on that thing?" Joe asked cautiously. He wasn't too keen on heights. "I mean, it doesn't look stable."

"It's fine." Winter told him, stepping over to it. "It's a lift in a gym. They always work, no matter how poorly they're made or how little sense they make in existing." Joe shrugged his shoulders.

"But what if it breaks?" He asked. Ralph rolled his eyes in annoyance and pushed his friend forward, knocking him onto the lift and quickly pressing the up button. Joe looked at his flying companion. "I hate when you do this to me." He muttered. Ralph just smiled back, unoffended. The lift took the group up slowly, higher towards the roof of the huge bird house. It stopped at the very top, leaving the door open onto a wooden plant across to the arena and stadium for the battles. On the far end, posed with a huge pidgeot at his side, stood the gym leader himself. He had his back to them at this point, but he wasn't unaware of their existence. There was an echoed sound of a heel tapping on wood. The large bird twitched its head and looked back at the trainers as they walked in. It seemed to twitter something to the boy. He nodded and the gird took off into the air, flying around and eventually taking up perch on a hanging bar where it over watched the meeting with keen interested eyes. Joe and Winter gave a small glance to one another. They stepped out of the lift together, nearly falling as they realised the plank was lower down then it looked. Ralph made sure they stayed standing, using his two large man sized wings to hold them up, and they all walked forwards, Joe constantly looking at where he stood, fearing that at any second it could disappear with no warning and leaving him to fall. Winter put a hand on his shoulder, which distracted him into looked back at her.

"You ok?" She asked him with a small smile. Joe nodded slowly.

"I'm goooood…" He swayed a little as a sudden gust of wind knocked his balance. He managed to get it back, feeling a little sicker for it. "I'm good." He finished. They stepped off the long wooden plank and safely onto the arena floor. Joe felt a little more secure here. At least he couldn't see the ground now. His phobia of heights took a backseat for a while, but it was possible for a comeback at some point. The boy ahead of them wiped hair from his eyes and tilted his head around a little, the edge of his eye visible and probed at the newcomers.

"Welcome to my gym." He said in a young yet experienced voice. His vocals echoed in the air itself as it was swept up by the blowing winds and spread around every inch of the room. He turned around properly, facing the arrived teenagers, his open blue jacket flailing weakly in the air. His blue hair was a strange cut, the left side cut above his fringe while the right side was uncut and hanging over his eye, leaving him with a piratesk style. He wore a darker blue martial arts suit and aviator trousers and shoes. He looked ready to skydive without a parachute, though looking at the birds around the room he wouldn't need one. He held his right hand up and brushed aside his hair, letting both his eyes pick out the people before him. "I am Falkner, gym leader of this here nest. How may I be of service to you both?" Joe and Winter were a little surprised by his politeness. They had expected him to talk and act like some kind of bodacious surfer dude, but instead he acted very maturely. The more they thought about it the more it did make sense. He was a gym leader after all, so people expected him to behave with a more adult manner, even if he was hardly older than they were.

"We, uh, I have come to battle you." Joe explained simply, coughing slightly and trying to grow a little confidence. It had been a while since he'd challenged a gym leader and he hadn't always been successful in doing so. They last gym leader had challenged him and basically let him. He worried he might not be able to repeat his success. But he was prepared to try. Falkner nodded, his hair flicking with the movement, and gave him a confirming smile.

"Very well. I accept your challenge." He replied. Joe looked relieved.

"Oh. That was simple." He chuckled. "When I battled the Kanto gym leaders they always had something to announce before we battled."

"You came from Kanto, did you?" Falkner asked. Joe and Winter nodded. Falkner shrugged his head. "Yeah, I imagined you were. You look very Kantosian. It's something in the way you stand. You're very limited." Joe wasn't sure if this was a compliment, an insult or an attention to detail. Either way he decided to ignore it.

"By the look of it I'd assume you use flying types." He took note.

"Yes. As do you, I see." Falkner said, looking at Ralph and nodding. Then he took a step forwards. "Well lets drop all this small talk and get to battling." He announced. Then he pointed at Winter. "Does she wish to battle also?" He asked. Winter shook her hands and head.

"No, I just came to watch. You two go ahead." She explained. Falkner seemed to sigh with relief.

"That's good." He explained. "I only really have two pokémon and I'm still pretty new to this gym leader stuff. That's kind of why I'm the weakest gym leader and the first in the line for this region. But you're probably not interested in all that. What is your name, my friend?" He asked.

"Uh, Joe." Joe said, after suddenly realising he'd changed the subject. Falkner's style of talking seemed to require close paying attention, otherwise you'd miss what the subject was about. "I'm Joe, and my friend is Winter. And the Crobat is called Ralph." Falkner nodded.

"Ralph. A nice name." He stepped forwards, the wind whipping his jacket and hair into a gust. "Ok then, Joe, Ralph. I, Falkner the flying type master of the Violet City Gym, accept ypur challenge." Joe smirked to himself. At least the gym leaders of this region showed of, too.

The game was set and the battle was primed. Joe stood at his podium with a pokeball in his hand. Falkner stood at his podium on the opposite side of the stadium, no pokeball in his hand. Winter watched from the stands, sitting patiently a few feet away from a huge flock of multiple species of bird pokémon. It was strange to think that, instead of having gym trainers, this gym leader had gym pokémon to practice with challengers. She wondered how he trained so many birds and taught them to battle by themselves. She then wondered how on earth he'd trained them to sit quietly on the stands and weight. A big bird like a fearow or a pidgeot should not naturally know how to perch on a human bench. Ralph floated at Joe's side patiently. He could tell that, at some point in the battle, he was going to be needed to finish the fight, probably because he was a flying type himself and could probably outmanoeuvre whatever pokémon Falkner sent out. But for now Joe was going to give a bit of time to some of his newer pokémon. From the roof above hung an electronic board with the data of the pokémon. So far it said nothing as neither side had been released yet, but once they were it would spring into life and show the audience and the combatants what status each pokémon was in. Joe's side was on the left screen and Falkner's side was on the right. Joe himself hadn't taken his eyes away from Falkner. He was expecting him to do something to start the battle, but instead he was standing still, waiting for Joe to make the first move instead. Finally Joe gave in and released his first pokémon.

"Go, Pippy!" He called and threw the pokeball. Pippy appeared, rubbing his red cheeks and sparking excited electricity, spreading static down his fuzzy spine and to the tip of his tail and whiskers. Falkner smiled a little.

"A pikachu." He shook his head a little, a smile rising through his lips. "Predictable. Very predictable." Joe narrowed his eyebrows sternly. He wasn't annoyed with Falkner's comment but he was showing that he disapproved of his cockiness. Falkner raised a hand to the air and clicked a finger twice. From the crowd of birds on the bench and in the air one rose up. A small brown feathered spearow flew from the flock and landed on the field in front of Falkner, cawing heroically. "Spearow, ready up!" He called. Spearow flexed its wings and stretched its talons simultaneously, pruning its body feathers with its beak and quickly pulling out dead fluff.

"Pippy, charge your static!" Joe called in confrontation. Pippy did so, his fur beginning to stand on end and spark at the air around him. The two pokémon stared each other down. Then battle truly began.

"Spearow, Growl!" Falkner called. Spearow began making a high pitched gurgling rumble at the back of its throat, trying to intimidate its opponent. It work a little bit, as Pippy began to take a small step back, looking a little disheartened.

"Don't let it get to you, Pippy." Joe encouraged. Pippy nodded and narrowed his eyes, focusing on the target and not the fearsome noise it made. "Now, use thunderbolt!" Joe shouted. Pippy released his electricity in one long arcing bolt of electricity.

"Evade!" Falkner yelled. Spearow jumped aside and hobbled across the wooden plank floor as the bolt struck where it had been and exploded into a burning ball of sparks. The wood where it hit was left singed and black with soot and ash, a small burning hole at the centre and growing slowly. "Now, use leer!" He called again. Spearow flapped its wings and hovered in the air, glaring at Pippy with glistening predatory eyes. They narrowed down on their prey. Pippy backed up a little, fighting back his intimidation and ready for another try at attacking.

"Slam it, Pippy!" Joe called. Pippy ran forwards, his ears pulled back with the force and speed. He ran and then he jumped, flying forward with the full force of his body bringing him forwards. Spearow didn't move. Instead it pulled its head back.

"Peck it in mid-air!" Falkner instructed. As Pippy's front collided with Spearow, the small brown bird swung down its beak, jabbing the electric pikachu in the spine. Pippy yelled and both pokémon crashed into the ground, recovering from their injuries and fighting on land now.

"Spark it!" Joe cried. Pippy charged static through his body and sent it down his spine, to the area where spearows beak was still imbedded. The shocked bird jumped into the air, squawking in pain and surprise as electricity passed through its nose and into its skull, frizzling its brain. The dazed bird landed with a dumb and heavy thump and waddled around, unable to keep balance and confused as all hell as to where it was and what that ringing sound in its ears was. Now Pippy had a solid advantage.

"Finish it, Pippy!" Joe called. Pippy charged his electricity and fired again, sending a final bolt at the stumbling bird. Spearow didn't stand a chance. The bolt hit it in the side and sparked, exploding over the poor bird's body. It squawked a final painful squawk, then collapsed in a feathery heap, burned plumage floating down round it. Joe punched the air, Ralph flipped a full spin and Pippy jumped for Joy. That was one pokémon down already. Maybe they hadn't lost it after all. Falkner waved a hand and two pidgey flew in, scooped up the spearow by its charred wings, and carried it off to the side where it could rest and recuperate after a nasty beating. Falkner audibly hissed a curse under his breath, but he didn't seem disappointed or at all worried. Instead he looked up at Joe and smiled.

"Ok, so you took out spearow. I'm not surprised, but still, well done." He tugged at his jacket and pulled it over his chest, covering his blue shirt. "But, believe me, I haven't even begun to challenge you yet." He raise a hand, waved it once, and then clenched it. The birds in the audience all looked up and to the right of room. Winter followed their gaze. So did Ralph, Joe and Pippy. From one of the bird cages something stirred in its dark. A beak poked out, sharp and potent. Then two eyes, yellow, evil and just as sharp. Pale feathers where visible on the head and neck. And then the bird flew out, spreading its wings and circling above the arena for a minute or so. It finally swooped in and landed in front of Falkner, folding its wings in and bowing. The long yellow feathers on the back of its head fluttered gracefully in the air as its head moved. Falkner reached out a hand and brushed it across the top of the giant birds head. It clucked gratefully. He removed his hand and the bird raised its head again, looking up at him. Falkner nodded across to Joe and his pokémon. The bird turned and looked itself. Pippy was shaking where he stood. He had never seen such a large predator in his life, and this was a very big bird in deed to him. "Now enters Pidgeot, my greatest champion." Falkner announced in an almost jokingly posh hammy way. Joe had to admit he hadn't been expecting the gym leader to whip out such a big bird so quickly. He thought he was more polite than that.

"I can deal with him." Joe said, trying to seem a little too confident. Falkner raised a mockingly questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, can you now?" He asked. "Pidgeot here has defeated many trainers before you. Spearow was just a test. He, however, is the full exam." Pidgeot cawed in agreement, ruffling his wings in a characteristic display of confidence and strength. Joe shrugged to Ralph.

"That may be so." Joe said. "But is he fast?" Ralph gave him a cheeky smile back.

"Can we get on with the battle again, please?" Falkner interrupted. The two fools coughed and looked back at their opponent.

"Sorry." Joe apologised. "He looked at Pippy. "You okay to continue on, bud?" Joe asked. Pippy nodded, determined. "Ok." He raised a hand. "Pippy, use thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged up static and released. Then Falkner made a surprising command.

"Kick!" He said simply. Pidgeot began to dig at the wooden ground until it broke into splinters. Then, suddenly, it threw its leg up as the bolt game in and showered it in mud. The spear of static hit it and covered Pidgeot in a coat of sand and dust, but did absolutely nothing to harm it. Joe was dumbfounded. So was Pippy.

"How on earth did you survive that?" He asked. Falkner tapped his nose.

"A lot of practice and training, as well as a solid strategy." He explained. He looked at Pippy, giving a sad pouty whining face at him. "I'm so sorry, but your little shock attacks aren't going to do much against Pidgeot anymore." Pippy growled. He wasn't happy that his attacks were now close to useless against his opponent, but also the way that Falkner was poking fun of him was enraging him a little. He readied to throw himself at either the boy or his overgrown canary at any given moment.

"Pippy, stay calm." Joe said quietly. "Don't let them taunt you into making a stupid choice. Just stay calm and we can beat them, buddy." Pippy took in a heavy inhale, then exhaled. He cooled down a little. Joe smiled "Alright, now let's get back to the battle." He rose a hand. "Pippy, slam it!" He called. Pippy ran forward and jumped full body forward at the large bird. Pidgeot however simply spun around and lashed out with his wing, knocking the angered mouse away. Pippy rolled across the ground, hurt but not too badly so. He got quickly back onto his feet.

"Quick Attack!" Falkner cried. Pidgeot lunged, moving in a blur of speed.

"Double team it, quickly!" Joe called. Pidgeot attacked and ran straight through the illusion, skidding to a halt on the dust covered wooden floor. It looked around. Instead of one Pippy, it was surrounded by an entire ring of them, all moving and all taunting it with their flickering tails. Pidgeot gave an angry defensive squawk and flapped it swings aggressively. As it did so some of the mud on its down fell away. "Now, use thunderbolt!" Joe called. All the Pippys sparked simultaneously. Then a huge line of static fired from behind it. At the last second Pidgeot jumped, hovering over the bolt as it flew past and hit a Pippy mirage, evaporating it is an instant. As it landed it turned to see the real Pippy running up and getting ready to slam it.

"Sand Attack!" Falkner called. Pidgeot kicked at the dust and swung its foot around, spaying Pippy in the eyes with a rainfall of sand and soot. He skidded to a halt, blinking rapidly and coughing uncontrollably. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sand out. This left him open for another attack. "Now, wing attack!" Falkner called. Just as Pippy got his sight back he removed his hands and saw a powerful wing flying towards his face, followed by a loud squawk of excitement. A second later he was sailing backwards across the arena. He eventually crashed into the ground at the edge of the podium in front of Joe's feet, lying in pain but still barely able to fight. Joe cursed.

"This isn't working." He muttered to Ralph. "We need to get that mud off of its body. That way Pippy can get an electric attack in again and take it down." Ralph nodded in agreement. "How do we do that?" Joe pondered for a second. They both came to the same conclusion at the same time. "Mar can do it." Joe muttered. He turned to Pippy. "Pippy. Switched out for a while. Let somebody else take the battle." Pippy sighed and relaxed. He turned around and climbed up onto the podium, scurrying across the wood and sitting at Joe's side patiently. Joe reached for a new pokeball and released it. "Go Mar!" He cried. The pokeball snapped open and released his first caught Johto pokémon, Mar the marill. Falkner raised an eyebrow.

"What is this tactic?" He asked, confused by Joe's decision. "Swap out a pokémon with a type advantage for one that doesn't? Interesting." Joe rubbed his hands.

"It's not about the type advantage." He told him. "It's about the strategy." He pointed his finger at Pidgeot. "Dowse it with water gun!" He called. Mar nodded and fired a large globule of water at Pidgeot's chest. The large bird however had been expecting this. It took off into the air a few seconds before, avoiding the attack and staying covered in sand and dust and mud.

"That maybe be so, but an advantage can always be part of that strategy." Falkner replied. He raised his own hand. "Pidgeot, Wing attack" Pidgeot dived down, swooping in to attack, its wing outstretched and rigid.

"Defence curl!" Joe called. Mar curled up into a ball for protection and rolled back, readying to take the attack. As it turned out Mar was too close to the ground like this to be hit. Pidgeot's wing passed narrowly overhead when it tried to attack him. Mar uncurled and laugh. Pidgeot came back in for another attack.

"Dive at it this time!" Falkner called. Pidgeot dived head first and wings out back down at the blue water mouse.

"Water gun!" Joe cried. Mar swelled up his mouth with water and, as Pidgeot swooped in, fired, spraying it with the liquid. It squawked in surprise and annoyance as the mud in its feathers ran down its body and to the ground. It had lost its resistance to electricity. Now it was vulnerable to Pippy's attacks. It looked back up and glared at the creature that had done this. Mar backed away a little, unnerved by the glare he was getting from the huge predatory bird. He took a step away. Pidgeot took a step forward. It clucked agitatedly.

"Pidgeot." Falkner called. Pidgeot looked back at him. "Take it down." He instructed. Joe looked a little worried now.

"Mar, get ready to fight." He whispered. Mar didn't answer him. Then, without warning, Pidgeot lunged at him, wings outspread and beak sharp and ready to stab. Mar jumped back, yelling in surprise and mild fear. Pidgeot's beak struck the wood, cracked it and it lashed forwards again, swinging its wing this time and striking Mar away like a pinball. The little marill rolled to a hold and uncurled, just in time to avoid another peck from Pidgeot's beak. Mar jumped back and spun around, slapping the overgrown feathery poultry in the face with his tail. Pidgeot cawed louder and more furiously now. Mar rolled back, readied to spit another globule of water at his opponent, and received a heavy smack in the face from Pidgeot's forehead. The large bird had quick attacked him while he prepared to attack. Mar rolled on his back and bounced back on to his feet, only to be struck again in the gut by Pidgeot's beak. Mar tried to tackle Pidgeot but his attack did nothing but bounce him back, where he was hit again by a strike from a sharpened wing. Pidgeot kicked a load of sand into his eyes, blinding him and leaving him defenceless. It took to the air again, looking down at its prey.

"Finish it!" Falkner called dramatically. Pidgeot dived. Mar looked up to see the large predator flying in for the kill. There was nothing he could do to stop it and nothing he could do to avoid it. Helplessly, he held his arms out to defend himself and closed his eyes. Pidgeot swooped in and sped like an arrowhead. It struck its target… and then they were both flying. Mar flew across the arena like a football, helpless, hopeless, curled up into a blue sphere with a bauble on black rope. When he finally landed again he didn't bounce. Instead he deflated, lying limp and flat on the wooden floor, his ears touching the ground, his tail limp on his back, a painful groan vibrating through the wood from his open mouth. On the battle screen his health bar dropped to zero. The points went down to 2:1. Joe cursed, thumping the air with a clenched palm. He didn't hesitate to withdraw Mar, but only regretted that he hadn't been able to use him for longer. This was Mar's first battle. It wasn't terribly encouraging for the small mouse that it lost without defeating one opponent.

"Good work, Mar." He encouraged, patting the pokeball that had just withdrawn his Marill. "You gave it a try. Take a rest for now." He clipped the pokeball back onto his belt. Now it was Pippy's turn to get back into the action. "Joe looked down at the watching mouse at his feet. "You're up again, Pippy." He said. Pippy nodded and jumped onto the field, sparking in the air and creating a hot field of static. Pidgeot landed by Falkner's side and ruffled his wings, glaring at the returning adversary. Now he wasn't protected from Pippy's electricity, but he was still prepared to put up a solid fight and battle to win.

"Easy." Falkner told his pokémon, trying to calm it and stop it from acting arrogantly. Pidgeot fidgeted from foot to foot, plucking at its wing feathers agitatedly. Joe made the next command.

"Thunderbolt!" He cried. His command was predictable.

"Mud slap it!" Falkner instructed. Pippy sparked with static as he charged his attack. Pidgeot scratched at the dust covered ground with its foot. They both attacked at the same time. Surprisingly enough it was Pidgeot who made the lung, rushing forward on his stalk-like feet and kicking up dust. When it was close enough it skidded to a turned stop and kicked its foot across he ground, whipping up a spray of mud and sand. And, as it did so, Pippy released his attack. The powerful electric bolt was so strong it knocked Pidgeot fifteen feet back across the stadium, leaving its muscles in spasm, its feathers burned and smoke wafting out in between small gaps. Unfortunately its attack had hit also. Pippy was kicked back by the powerful spray of mud and he fell back, unable to get the soggy dirt off and any static he still had was neutralised immediately. Pidgeot seemed to be suffering from its wounds. It had lowered its defences a little to fatigue and was clearly less aware of its surrounding as it stumbled on its talons, trying to stand up. But it was still standing and still able to fight. In fact its health bar had hardly dropped below half way. Joe was immediately coming up with a next battle plan.

"Alright, Pippy. Let's finish it off with a trick move." He decided. "Use substitute!" Pippy finished wiping as much of the mud out of his fir as he could and darted back, closer to Joe's podium. Once he was in the place he felt most comfortable he reached his hands to his chest, formed a sudden and strange ball of matter from within and placed a life sized yet weird faced doll of himself in front. Pidgeot narrowed its eyes and clicked its beak. The doll sat unmoving. Falkner clenched his fists.

"Quick attack!" He called. Pidgeot was gone in an instant, jumping forwards and lashing out at the fluffy button eyed pikachu doll ahead of it. Pippy waited for the right moment to attack. Pidgeot reached its target and lunged. It headbutted the substitution in the gut and sent it flying backwards in the air where it evaporated against a back wall. Pippy, however, was no longer behind it. Just before Pidgeot had struck he had jumped, flying above the creepy doll of himself, over the top of the unwary predatory bird and landed gymnastically and safely behind it, about to unleash his own attack.

"Now, thunderbolt it!" Joe cried. Pippy began to spark. Static ran up and down his fir. His cheeks expanded and crackled. He focused his electricity, aimer it, released, and… it failed. In an instant the sparks were gone and the rush of electrons through his fur had neutralised. He looked at himself in shock. Something had stopped his attack. He rubbed at his skin and picked at his fur in a hurried attempt to clean himself. A growing fear and realisation flooded through him. It was the mud. The mud and dust that Pidgeot had thrown on him had neutralised his electricity when he'd tried to attack. And now he was left defenceless, unable to do anything that would superiorly hurt it. Pidgeot seemed only too delighted that its plan had worked. It stepped towards the now harmless pikachu, destructive intent in its glare. "Pippy, look out!" Joe shouted. But, in the end, his call was worthless. There was no way that Pippy could evade Pidgeot's next attack, no matter how quickly he moved or how early he reacted to it or how much he tried to defend himself.

"Pidgeot, quick attack, followed by wing attack" Falkner instructed. There was no grace anymore to the bird's movements. It shot forward like a combat jet, moving from one side of the stadium to the other within seconds. Before it crashed into him, it lashed out with its wing and smacked the hapless pikachu in the face. A second later it was back at the other end of the stadium and Pippy was lying on his back, looking up at the thick glass roof, unmoving. The only thing he managed to say – half a minute later – was a small and pain filled squeak. Winter recovered from the wince she had made when the last move hit and let out a small gasp from the stands. Joe was a little worse of then she was. His jaw was almost touching the bottom flaw. He was quite shocked about how suddenly everything had spun around and turned bad for him. Now he was down to using one pokémon, but at least Pippy had managed to do some strong damage before he was taken out. Joe wordlessly took out his pokeball again and aimed it at the stunned mouse.

"Pippy, come back!" He said and withdrew the defeated pikachu. A flash of red beam and he was gone, back inside his own personal transportable pocket pod. Falkner rubbed his knuckles in his palms and called Pidgeot back to his side with a wave of his hand.

"So is that all?" He asked? "Have I won yet?" Joe look at him, his eyebrows raised but his eyelids still squinting.

"No, not exactly." He told him. "I still have one card left up my metaphorical sleeve." His attempt at comedy was universally declared 'So-So', mainly by the bird audience sitting in the stands. There was a collective cluck of approval from the audience. Joe turned to Ralph. "I think it's your turn to take up stand." Joe told him with a nod. Ralph nodded in agreement. Falkner crossed his arms.

"Flying verse flying?" He seemed to like the idea. "Okay. I like it." He reached a hand to his podium. "But let's make it even more interesting. How about no floors?" He pressed a small button underneath the podium. The floor in between the two stands began to shake and split at the centre, moving into the walls. The ground where battle had before been taking place was now gone, left with a much larger open expanse. Underneath where the floor had been was a safety net, just in case anything did happen to fall out of the sky. Joe and Ralph were quite surprised, as was Winter. Ralph was probably the most excited of the three of them. Now he had more space to fly in.

He took up place on the now floorless stadium, flapping his wings slowly yet staying stable in the air. He rose up to the challenge of his rival. Pidgeot tapped a talon and stepped forward. It flapped its wings, creating a heavy gust of wind and taking off into the air, hovering like Ralph did yet floating opposite him in mid-air. The two flying pokémon glared each other down in the sky, hovering like buzzards and circled around each other in a dual styled battle formation. They both waited for the other to make a move. It was down to their trainers to make the decision for them. As it turned out Falkner was again the one to start the fight. Now they were both down to their last pokémon to use in battle. 1 Vs 1. Crobat Vs Pidgeot. Fully evolved flying type Vs fully evolved flying type. "Pidgeot, Quick Attack!" Falkner called. Pidgeot sped through the air in a white flash of air.

"Evade!" Joe called. Ralph rolled aside in a purple cartwheel through the air, easily dodging the swooping attack of his opponent. "Now, cross poison!" Joe commanded. Ralph crossed his wings and swung them in an X at his opponent. Unfortunately pidgeot was quick enough to avoid being hit, pulling of an awesome yet quick Immelmann turn and avoiding the slicing poisonous wing tips. Now that it was above him, it had an open attack at Ralph from above. It took no time waiting for commands. It dived down and slashed at him with his claws, striking Ralph on the back wing and making him flinch. Ralph fell from the air in a spinning ball and dropped several feet lower before opening his wings again and gliding around the stadium like a bat shaped purple kite.

"Wing attack!" Falkner called. Pidgeot dived a few feet lower and swooped wings out behind the gliding crobat. He sped up, flapping heavily and rapidly and gaining constant speed. Ralph looked back and spotted his feathery opponent catching up. It was pulling a wing back to attack.

"Look out!" Joe yelled. Ralph was already on the ball. As Pidgeot swung his wing and attacked he stopped suddenly and dropped down out of the sky, falling underneath and behind Pidgeot in a single movement. The large bird's wing passed through the air where Ralph had been. It look surprised, spinning around in the air, trying to find where he'd gone. It looked down and Ralph smashed into him from bellow, knocking him back with surprisingly immense force. The two flying types combatted in the air, throwing pecks and bites and slashes and whips at the other in an attempt to bring them out of the sky. Pidgeot's long bird claws grabbed and tugged at Ralph's Wings, holding him still in its grasp, while Ralph bit down hard on its bony leg, causing it to squawk painfully. They spun around in a tangled duet, spinning like a feathery leather skinned top with lashing wings and gnashing mouths.

"Slash it!" Falkner cried with the heat of the battle.

"Bite it!" Joe shouted. Both pokémon kept up the battle. It was almost at an end, both pokémon were tiring, but who could win was still an open event. Both Ralph and Pidgeot were content to scrap away and neither was stronger than the other. Falkner clearly trained his pokémon well. It was clear from both of them that this battle wasn't going to end without an incredible climax of some kind. And then, as if on cue to the idea, Ralph broke free and pushed away from the fight, getting a quick breather. Pidgeot was immediately on his tail he second he was free, chasing him around the ring in a constant circle. Joe watched in tense anticipation, his fist clenched as he chanted Ralph on under his breath.

"Come on, Ralph! Come on!" Joe hissed in a whisper. "You can win! Take it down!" He threw his fists down. "Use steel wing!" Ralph stopped suddenly. He was now on the exact opposite side of the field to his trainer. Ahead of him Pidgeot was flying in to attack, its head lowered and wings folded in. It was flying like a downy missile straight towards him. In that second Ralph's gaze went from unsure tension to secure, vicious, furious combat. His eyes narrowed and glowered at it. His front wing pulled back a little and spread out to its full length. Its skin began to glisten silver and cold and sharp as unnatural power went into its ridge. Falkner suddenly realised that Pidgeot was in real trouble now. His eyes widened in surprise.

"How does it know…?" He began to ask. Then he remembered. "Oh god! Pidgeot, don't!" It was already too late for it. Pidgeot was unable to hear his trainer's calls from over the rage of the wing. It sped forwards, barely inches away from Ralph when he released his attack on it. His steel wing smacked into Pidgeot's face, smacking it to the right with incredible force. There was the sound of several bones breaking and a 'whoosh' of metal through the air. Before Pidgeot could even realise what had happened, it was falling, dropping out of the sky like a weighty rock. Fortunately the net caught it in time before it hit the ground. The two trainers looked from where Pidgeot had been to where it now was. Ralph folded his wing back into flying and smiled to himself, returning proudly to his best friend's side. Falkner looked stunned. He had never expected such a powerful way to end the battle. Joe in fact was hardly surprised. It was the same move Ralph had used to win his first gym battle in Kanto. Admittedly it was the second attempt at it, but he still won using it. He had also had the gym leader's brother, Gordon, teach Ralph the move, but the end result came from His and Ralph's skill and communication. Joe high-fives his best friend as he flew back to him. Winter cheered for them. The bird flock squawked and clucked in interesting approval. Falkner was still shocked. He was amazed at the way he'd lost. But a challenge was a challenge, and Joe had won fairly.

"I… have been beaten." He muttered, his arms falling limp. He bowed at Joe and Ralph. "You have defeated me. Congratulations. You've defeated your first Johto gym leader. I applaud you. Well done, my friend!"

* * *

 _By his dark embrace we exist. By his lighting eyes we grow._

 _From his caring heart we feel. From his creating mind we know._

 _With his footsteps we will walk. With his every breath we reap._

 _And from the shallowness of his omnipotence we spend our lives to weep._

 _He creates us and he leaves. He reads us and bereaves._

 _He gives us will and consciousness, yet forgets to give us needs._

 _He gave us a world to live on. The land to call our own._

 _The seas to swim and drink, and the sky to which we go._

 _I hate them all to damnation. Every single soul._

 _They walk around above my head, believing they have a goal._

 _But little do they know how much I own their lives,_

 _Watching from underground the world within my cavernous hives._

 _He thinks he's safe on his hollowed out mountain, away from my shuttered eyes._

 _But he cannot contain my wrath upon the day I shall rise._

 _I shall be awaken soon from within my prison of iron bars_

 _And only his lordship forgives the man who raged against the stars._

Meian new these words well. They were the words that the ancient one had written in his tomb. To him they had meaning well beyond that of any normal being's understanding. He thought them over and over in his highly intelligent head. He translated the words quickly from their carving into the walls. They were written in a dead language, one most didn't remember. This place was meant to be forgotten. He looked at the wall and its many sketches and carving. Many images covered its wall. Most of them seemed to include the ancient one himself, swinging his earthen club and powerful fists to destroy the land of gods and men. Meian was glad a being like this was locked away down hear. He didn't fear waking him up. Meian knew he could not do so. The Ancient One had been asleep for millennia and wouldn't wake up till the time came and the words were said by the chosen one. Sadly, only Meian remembered this place. He was its watcher, in many respects to the word. He also watched the order of things. He made sure that Arceus' word was made law. He directed the path the world would take, steering it the right way if it became too off path. For ages he hadn't needed to interfere. Time seemed to set itself in the right direction by itself most of the time. However, there was something coming. Something was set to happen, and it wasn't far away now. He would awaken him. He with the enraged soul. He who lead the shadowed army. Meian did not use normal words to describe normal things. It wasn't how his mind work. He floated away from the scrawling and headed to the middle of the room, where a huge stone pyramid stood around thirty metres tall. Around it was the cavern, covering up most of the pyramid, except for the front side. At the bottom of the pyramid was what looked like a huge stone door, but the door was unmovable. No one was meant to open it. It would open by itself. Meian looked at the pyramid. In his head two voices, other than his own, argued back and forth with each other. Meian paid them little attention. He heard them mention something about a 'chosen hero' and an 'incredible task' and something about the 'archer man'. Meian rolled his closed eyes. As the light and dark, his job in the conversation was to make sure it was followed through to the right realisation. He only butted in when he needed to. And sadly it seemed that he would need to. His voice boomed out louder than theirs, deafening the two friends who he converse with many miles away. They both stopped squabbling immediately. Meian explained to them what they needed to do. There was silence for a while. The Kanto mind spoke. Its owner had watched over the said hero during his adventure's start over two months ago. He had managed to steer him in the right direction into helping stop a dangerous uprising of criminals. Meian was grateful of his interference there. The other 'friend' was much closer. He was in Johto, with Meian, but still several miles apart. Mainly because his friend was on the surface and Meian wasn't. This friend was a time traveller, and would come in very important to this hero very quickly and very soon. Till then the future was quiet. But there was one thing Meian knew. It was certain. Nothing would stop what was coming. There is nothing anyone can do to avert it all. But what happens after it?... That is up to choice. Two paths are open, but only one can be walked. It was up to this hero to choose. Meian sighed.

"The chances of men lie within their minds, not their luck. We steer them into their paths the best we can." He thought this sentence. His friends didn't seem to understand it. He rolled his shut eyes. He tapped his short tail on the ground and then he was gone from this place, disappearing into a small ball of black and purple light spinning wildly. All that was left was the sketches on the walls and the eerie pyramid and its one shut, unseeing, slumbering eye.


	5. Chapter 5: Silver

The return to the pokémon centre was short and quiet. After Joe and Winter had left the gym they didn't wait a second to head over and heal up. Falkner still seemed quite shocked at how Ralph and Joe had beaten him in the end, which Joe couldn't understand because the boy was a gym leader. He should experience losses like that all the time. So why was he so depressed looking? In fact Falkner had said very little as they walked out. After he congratulated him and gave Joe his first Johto badge he just sort of stopped. He spent the rest of the time looking at the floor, his Pidgeot's pokeball withdrawn and in his hand again. Winter had been immediate to congratulate him as they left, getting back onto the wooden lift and descending to the bottom floor again. Joe hadn't paid much attention to what she'd said. He'd been more focused on not swaying or falling of the lift's edge. And then they'd walked out, gone for a late lunch and headed back to the pokémon centre to rest up and heal. By that time it had gone 3:50PM. The air was getting slightly milder and the cloud were shifting ahead for rain to come later. Joe and Winter hadn't spoken much that day, but there never felt a need to. It had passed by so fast that speaking hadn't been a necessity.

Joe sat down on the waiting seat in the pokémon centre, having just handed in his pokémon to be healed up. Ralph had been reluctant to get back into the glass case but eventually Joe had managed to restrain him in it. Now he was relaxing, lying with his legs stretched out and his back slumped into the seat. He sighed and lulled his head, letting his mind switch of a little. It had been a long day for all of them. Winter sat next to him, having handed her own pokémon in to be checked up on as well. While she hadn't done as much battling as Joe had it was always best to get your pokémon checked up whenever you passed a pokémon centre. Any experienced trainer learned this quickly, along with the fact that you should on no account attempt to steal honey from an ursaring. She slumped against the chair back too, rubbing her forehead and relieving a little stress.

"What a day." She muttered aloud. "What… a… day. I don't think we got a rest at any point. Between leaving Kanto, reaching New Bark town, trying to stop a thief, getting knocked out, carrying you to Cherrygrove, seeing Team Ace again, seeing Team Rocket again, failing to save a dying pokémon and battling a gym leader, I don't think we got any kind of sleep." Joe nodded his half-conscious head in agreement.

"Hmm. Yeah, we didn't." He muttered. He was currently struggling to keep his eyes half open. His brain kept trying to switch off. The gym battle had been so exciting and had given him such a rush that, now it had worn off, was leaving him tired and slightly braindead. "I hope that we actually get some kind of rest today. I don't think I can stand the idea of walking another…" - He yawned loudly – "…Walking another route today or tomorrow. I need a hiatus for a few hours." Winter nodded heavily.

"Agreed." They sat in silence for a few seconds. Then she turned to him and smiled. "That was an awesome battle you and Falkner had, by the way." She said. Joe looked at her from the corner of his eyes. His head was already turning to hardened concrete and becoming unmovable. "I haven't seen you battle in a whole month. Hell, I've hardly seen you within that time either. It's great getting back to this. I forgot how fun it was." Joe turned his head to her, breaking of his metaphorical concrete shell.

"Yeah." He agreed, really thinking about it. It had been a long time since he'd had such a large battle like that. The last one had been with Tom during their Champion ship battle, and he'd won that one, only just. It hadn't exactly been fun at the time, both trainers had been fighting for their own honour, but, looking back on it, it had been a fun experience. He had never expected to get that far, he'd never expected to beat all of the Elite Four and reach the champion in one run. And before all that he'd been battling gym leaders, catching pokémon, raising them, evolving them, making friends and fighting criminals. It had been an incredible adventure and he was suddenly realising how privileged he was to have experienced it. He started to hope that this new adventure in Johto would be even grander… but hopefully with less emotional scaring, thievery, violence, murder and abuse to his friends and team. With Team Rocket coming back that wasn't likely. "It is." He agreed. "I forgot how great this all is." He smiled. "I hope it gets better." She nodded, agreeing. Her smile faded slightly. He noticed her expression fall. "What's wrong?" He asked her. She sighed quietly.

"I… I can't stop thinking back to that Togetic." She explained with a heavy heart. "I just… feel that, if we'd been quicker and braver, we could have saved it. It didn't need to d…" She choked a little on her own words. Joe looked sadly at her. It was clear she wasn't taking what she'd seen well. Neither was he, but, in some respect, he was more used to it. After Sting's death he'd realised his emotions had hardened a little. He certainly wasn't the joking, mocking, silly fool he had been before. Now he was usually more serious. Even though he was still able to laugh and make jokes he never felt as happy as he had. Part of him had been cut out with his friend. Winter was going through something a little similar. She may not have been friends with Togetic, she hadn't even known it before the event. But the trauma of seeing a mother dying and pass away was still moving in a horrific way. Joe remembered her mention her grandmother's passing when she was a child. That might be the main reason she was so depressed by this experience. It reminded her of her grandmother, the only close family she'd truly known and therefor the mother figure to her. Joe wanted to make her feel better, but he didn't know how. While he and Winter were friends they were both different people in many respects. What could he do to make her feel better?

"Hey." He put an arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her. She looked at him again. "It's ok." He told her. "I don't think there would have been anything we could do to save it. Team Rocket had been there for a while by the look of it. If we'd tried to stop them one of us could have been hurt or killed, and then where would we be?" He smiled at her. "Don't take it out on yourself. We didn't know they were there in the first place. If we hadn't heard the gunshots we wouldn't have been able to at least save her last egg." He wasn't brilliant at making powerful speeches or raising moral, but his efforts usually managed to get the message across well enough. She smiled weakly back at him.

"Thanks for trying." She told him. Then, to his surprise, she hugged him. Her arms grappled around his neck and she pulled him forwards, hugging him into her shoulder. Awkwardly, Joe hugged her back, making sure his hands didn't touch anywhere personal. "I'm sorry for being a killjoy." She apologised.

"Don't be." Joe told her. "You're hurting. It's ok to feel that way. I'm your friend. You can talk to me." She broke away slowly, smiling at him. He smiled back. Their eyes met. They blushed. She coughed.

"Uh, how is the egg? She asked. Joe's eyes widened.

"The egg?" He remembered suddenly that he'd forgotten all about the little egg he'd taken in as Togetic's dying wish. It was still in his bag, and had been for the last few hours. In a flash he picked his back up from his feet and put it on his lap, zipping it open and lifting the heavy egg up into his arms. He sat it on his lap, looking at it intrigued.

"How close is it to hatching?" Winter asked.

"I don't know." Joe said simply. "I can't tell."

"Can you feel any movement inside?" She asked him. Joe felt an ear against the shell side and listened for few seconds.

"A little." He told her. "It's weak but definitely there." He tapped the shell lightly with a fingertip twice. He got a response of two kicks. He pulled his head away again. "Well, it's mimicking sounds already." He joked. "It can't be far away from hatching."

"Well, that's at least a good sign." Winter smiled. "It might hatch tomorrow if you're lucky."

"Do you think feeding it will make it hatch faster?" Joe asked. Winter looked at him.

"Joe, it's an egg. How is it going to eat?" She asked him, sarcastically. He looked from her to the egg then back to her.

"Well maybe the promise of food will make it come out earlier." He saw her expression changed to becoming questioning. "I'm pulling your leg." He told her, smiling like a comedian. Winter didn't chuckle. Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, forget I can speak." He exclaimed.

At that moment the doors to the pokémon centre slid open quietly, causing everyone to take a quick glance to the person walking in, then look away careless. Joe and Winter glanced at this new person, then looked away. Then they looked back.

"Hey, that's Falkner. What do you think he's here for?" Winter asked, speaking quietly to Joe. He looked at her this time.

"To heal his pokémon." He told her, acting like it was common knowledge. Winter shook her head.

"No, pokémon gyms usually have healing equipment for the leaders in them, so that wouldn't be a reason." She explained. "Maybe we should ask him?" She wondered. As it turned out they didn't need to. As the gym leader walked in he looked around, saw the two trainer and casually walked over to them. He took a seat beside them, not looking directly at them and fiddling with his one pokeball quietly. Joe and Winter looked at him, then at each other. The gym leader didn't meet their eyes. Then he started talking to them.

"Hello again." He said simply, still not looking at them. Joe and Winter looked at him.

"Uh, hello." They said back. There was silence.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Winter ask him. Falkner shrugged.

"I was, uh, actually going to suggest something to the two of you." He said. Joe and Winter lanced at each other, then leaned in closer to hear.

"Yes?" They asked. Falkner breathed.

"I imagine that you two will be heading south next, towards union cave and through Azalea Town, to fight the gym leader there?" He asked. They nodded.

"Yeah, that was the idea." Joe agreed. Falkner nodded.

"So you'd be likely to need an escort there?" He asked. The look on their faces made him quickly add "A guide, to get from the city to the caves." They nodded slowly in understanding.

"Why would we need a guide?" Winter asked him. "Isn't route 32 just a long grass plain?" Falkner gestured with his hands as if to say that it wasn't as simple as that.

"Well, mostly it is." He agreed. "But there's a lot of winding pathways which lead away from the caves rather than towards them. Many trainers get lost on them. It's not exactly harmful but it's known for wasting a huge amount of time backtracking. I know the route. I could take you straight to the caves without any of that awkward backtracking." Joe and Winter looked at each other again. They seemed interested, tempted at least.

"Well it's an interesting proposal…" Winter admitted.

"But, you're gym leader, and I just battled against you, and won." Joe told him. "Why would you want to help us out so quickly? Besides you've got the gym to run and leaving would mean you miss out on battling other possible challengers." Falkner smiled a little out of the corner of his mouth.

"You think I'd hold a grudge on the person who beat me?" He asked. "I'm a gym leader. I get beaten in battles all the time. Hell, I've been beaten by trainers younger, weaker and less experiences then you. But that's not important at this current point." He crossed his legs over and leaned back, looking inconspicuous. "No, I was asking you two because you both seem… interesting." He told them. They looked surprised.

"Interesting?" Winter asked.

"Well, there's something about the two of you." Falkner said. "You scream important. I can't figure out why but I wanted to understand it. So I suggest that I guide you both to Union cave, then maybe I'll be able to see what it is I've noticed about you that's so important." Joe and Winter looked at each other again. This was clearly a day for checking your partner's expression to see if they were thinking the same thing. They seemed a little confused, but they both turned and nodded.

"Alright." Joe told him. "We're in." Falkner nodded in return.

"Ok." He said in a calm and surprisingly casual voice. "I imagine you both want to get there with few trainer battles getting in the way, so I suggest we wait till tonight to head off. That'll give you both around six hours to rest up for it."

"That sounds fare enough to us." Winter said. Joe nodded in agreement.

"Cool." Falkner stood up again and got ready to leave. "I'll meet you both by the south exit of town at around twenty-to-one tomorrow morning. See you then." And with that the gym leader bowed respect, walked away and exited the building, getting a jolly 'Come back soon, Falkner' from the nurse at the counter. Joe and Winter slowly looked back at each other, a little surprised but also relatively excited. They smiled slightly.

"Alright." They both said together.

* * *

Crystal sat glumly in her seat, waiting outside of the office for her meeting with him. Things were not going well for her so far. Her first mission had gone horribly. Yes, they'd managed to get the eggs from the nest, but killing the mother wasn't on the job list. She felt disgusted at the experience. How could she be working with these people? They were awful. She knew that Team Rocket were immoral people, but she had never expected them to ever actually kill something. She had hoped they'd be a little more humane then that.

Danning was in the office currently talking with the leader. Occasionally loud shouting sounds came from within, sometimes getting more heated, sometimes less. He hadn't been in there terribly long. He and she had been requested to come to his office when they got back and explained that the job hadn't gone smoothly. Sadly it was Crystal herself who had given away that they had managed to kill the pokémon they were trying to steal from. She hadn't done it on purpose of course, she's just cried a little loud and one of the commanders had heard her. That commander was currently in the office with Danning and the leader. Crystal had managed to stop crying but the memory of what had happened was still strong in her mind. She tried to focus on something else. Then shouting started coming from within the room again. It came from multiple voices but it was clearly the leader who was shouting the loudest and more ferociously. Something smashed in there. Crystal sighed and rubbed her forehead. What had she gotten herself into?

Then there was a silent sound of sliding metal. It was faint under the sound of shouting but it stabbed the mind like an exclamation mark. Crystal looked up. The sound had set immediate warning signs through her mind. It sounded evil. The shouting continued, this time coming from only one voice. Then there was the sound of something slicing through unoccupied air. This was followed by a painful yell. Crystal stared at the door, her heart racing with fear. What where they doing to him in there? This sound was followed by the sound of striking to the body and pained yells with each sound. This continued on for a minute before finally stopping. The shouting, yelling and thumping ceased. Then the door opened. Danning stumbled out, holding a hand on his right cheek. Tears were in his eyes but he wasn't crying. Bruises dotted him face and skin. He was shoved out of the doorway by another man. This man was a little shorter and definitely a lot younger looking. He had a strange set of light grey hair under his rocket cap and a white pair of long gloves rather than short red ones. Apart from these two details he could have passed for one of the normal grunts. He shoved Danning forwards with his elbow, knocking the grunt forwards and through the doorway.

"Get going, Danning!" He grunted, snarling with a malicious smile. Danning looked back at him, struggling with his new injuries. Then he caught sight of Crystal watching him. He stared at her, his hand falling away from his face. Crystal gasped. There was a huge, fresh, still bleeding slash down his right cheek, starting from his eyebrow to his bottom jaw. It looked hideous. Had the leader really done that to him? She gulped, feeling sick. How could any boss live with themselves if they were like this to their workers, even if they were Team Rocket? Danning looked at her and his expression fell from pain and sadness. He looked disappointed. At her?

"Why is he looking at me like that?" She asked herself in her head. Danning just continued to look at her, giving her a continuous disappointed glare. Then he walked away, closely followed by the commander who had come out with him. Before he walked away he stopped for a second to look at Crystal. She sat up straight, gulping and hoping that he wasn't about to abuse her, too. The commander simply looked away and shook his head.

"Tch. Dumb old fool." He muttered. "Letting a kid get in the way of his job. He's just like those old commanders before. Too sentimental" The commander looked at Crystal again. She looked back, clearly a little nervous of him. He pointed a thumb back at the door. "You're wanted in there." He explained, simply. Then he walked away, following after the leaving Danning. Crystal gulped. Now she was in trouble. If the leader wanted to see her then she was not going to get out of this unscathed. She bit down her fears and stood up, walking up to the door and stepping inside the room.

The office was nothing she'd imagined it to be. Considering the look of the rest of the building was rundown, dishevelled, broken and rusting, it came as a surprise to her to realise that the bosses office was the exact opposite of that. It was clean, with simple light colours on the walls and floor, a desk that was still standing on four legs with very few chips in it, a filing cabinet that hadn't eroded away the lock and a chair that was made with a neat leather seat. The only things in it that where not so nice was the small droplets of blood on the edge of the desk and by the foot of the smaller wooden seat, a pile of shattered glass against the back wall where a bottle had been thrown, and the leader himself, who sat in his nice leather chair wearing his white uniform, wool face mask and grey cape which was slumped over the back of the chair itself. He was rubbing his right fist, soothing the knuckles hidden inside the grey glove. At the edge of his side of the desk was a small pocket knife, with a thin layer of fresh blood running down the tips sharp edge. His mask's visor flickered red and black. It wasn't easy to tell if he was looking at her behind it or not. The hood over it made it impossible to make out any details of the man who wore it. The leader continued to rub his hand, his head looking forwards. Then he put his hands down on the table and gestured a wave forwards to Crystal.

"Please, my child. Sit." He said. Crystal sat. She didn't lean or cross her legs or fidget out of pure fear that the man would cut her fingers off if she did. He had already shown himself to not be someone to mess around with and it was highly possible he had a quick temper too. The leader of team Rocket leaned back, crossing his arms. "How has your time been here, girl?" He asked. Crystal was a little confused. She had expected him to be furious at her for being the one who screwed up the mission, but he wasn't. He was calm, and this unnerved her even more. Should she even respond to his question? She was just so confused.

"It's… good." She mumbled, stuttering a little with nerves. The Leader noticed this.

"You're afraid." He realised. Crystal nodded slightly. From behind the mask came a small chuckle. "You shouldn't be. I've already taken out any anger I may have had before you came in. I assume you saw Danning leave?" He asked. Crystal nodded. "He's a friend of yours?" He asked. Crystal didn't respond. She gripped her wrist. She asked herself if she should tell him. How would he react? He could be unpredictable. It turned out she didn't even need to answer. The Leader already knew the answer. "He's the only person you've spent any time with. Think that's a little weird? A fully grown middle aged man and a young teenage girl. The police may question a relationship like that." Even though she couldn't see it Crystal could tell that the man before her was smiling cunningly. Archer leaned forwards, butting his elbows on the desk and covering the blood stained pocket knife with one of them. "So, the task I set you, Danning, Baxter, Gilbert and Mogerstein. What went wrong in your opinion?" He asked. Crystal gulped. She felt that it would be a bad idea to rat out one of her own team members, but she didn't have much of a choice. The punishments the leader would deal out would probably be worse than whatever Bax and his friends did.

"It was Baxter." She stuttered, anxiously. "He got trigger happy. He… he shot…" She struggled to hold back tears as the images of the dying Togetic came back into her visual memory. The leader tilted his head a little.

"Did he do this by himself?" He asked. Crystal nodded.

"Yes. He… made the choice himself." The leader hummed audibly through his mask and tapped a finger twice on the wood desk.

"Really?" He asked. "Because what I heard from Danning was that you started crying during the task because you couldn't take the pressure of what you were doing, which distracted Baxter and made him pull the trigger in confusion of mixed up commands. He said you even tried to grab the gun at one point to stop him from using it."

"Crystal looked suddenly petrified. She shook her head.

"No. That's not what happened!" She cried. The leader's fists clenched.

"It's you against Danning." He told her. "And I bet when Baxter comes in he'll tell me the same story. Maybe exaggerating a lot but the same story none the less." He stood up. Crystal was frozen to her seat. She couldn't speak. She couldn't scream. She couldn't stand. Only two things went through her head.

The first was "I'm going to die here!" The second was "Why would Danning frame me like this? I trusted him." Arched stepped away from the seat and walked to one end of the desk, before patrolling back to the other end.

"You see, Miss Peterson." He said in a rising calm voice that sounded like it would suddenly snap open and eat where whole. "When my men start failing at their jobs I begin to stop trusting them. And there's nothing worse than a boss who doesn't trust his workers, don't you agree?" Crystal nodded terrified. Archer nodded. "Exactly." He stopped back at the seat. "So when I tell you to go to Route 30 and steal a pokémon…" His fist slammed against the table, making Crystal jump out of her skin. "I EXPECT YOU TO DO IT!" He bellowed in her face. The maws of hell were snapping open with his every syllable. "Not stand around looking at the scenery or cry at the first threatening thing you see!" He calmed his temper again, pulling his fist back to his side. In the desk was a small crater where the impact had been made. Crystal gulped quietly. "Do you understand?" The leader asked. Crystal nodded. "Say it!" He snapped.

"Y…ye…ye…yes." She stuttered, shivering with fear.

"Yes what!" He asked sharply.

"Y…Yes Sir!" Crystal said, holding back flooding tears of panic. The leader calmed down again, folding his arms behind his back and standing with open legs.

"Good." He said. Crystal began to fidget with her fingers, trying to calm herself again. "Now…" The leader spoke again. "Who am I, Crystal?" He asked. Crystal looked at him.

"Y…you are our leader, sir." She told him.

"I ask what my name is, not what my job role is!" He snapped at her. Crystal gulped.

"Your name…" She tried to ask. The leader suddenly shot forwards, leaning his mask right into her face, seemingly staring her straight in the eyes. Crystal leaned back to have more space but the leader only leaned closer in.

"My… name…. is... Archer!" He hissed in a sinisterly slithering evil tone. "And don't forget it!" He leaned back again, standing by his chair, seemingly calming down. "Now… Get out of here, before I do anything… regrettable." Crystal stood up, bowed and ran out of the door, breathing heavily and trying not to cry.

* * *

That night Joe, Winter and Ralph awoke to the sound of their alarm clock, a small pidgey with a loud caw. It was time to go. The time was twenty minutes past midnight on Joe's pokétch, Falkner had said he'd meet them at twenty-to-one in the morning. That meant they had twenty minutes to get dressed and ready to leave, as well as have a quick packed breakfast. They wordlessly took five minutes to get ready before leaving their room and stopping in the main room to get their pokémon back. The nurse was still at her desk, her head slumped against one hand and snoring quietly like a whipped out mouse. Joe tapped on the desk, not wanting to wake her up suddenly but still trying to wake her up. One of the nurses eyes slid open slowly Then suddenly she was scrambling and sitting straight up behind the desk, her eyes drooping with heavy bags and her fringe ruffled a little from where she'd been resting. She exclaimed in surprise and held up a half conscious palm in an attempt to wave hello.

"Hyaaaa…. Welcome to the pokémon centre I'm Nurse Joy how may I help you sir or ma'am… Huh?" She said the whole thing in one go, hardly stopping for a breath in her awaking surprise.

"Nurse Joy, It's just me and Winter." Joe told her. The nurse lowered her hand again in slight embarrassment at falling asleep at her post. She looked at the two trainer.

"Oh." She said, half conscious and already feeling tired again. "Well what's the problem?" She asked.

"We would like to take our pokémon back now." Joe said. The nurse nodded, stifling a yawn.

"Hold on a second." She told them. She reached forward and, after several tries, pressed the button on the glass coffin which opened it and let Ralph out. He was already awake by this point and the second he was free he shot out of the case and hugged Joe's arm.

"Hey, easy." Joe laughed. "Careful with the arm there, buddy." Ralph let go, smiling happily. He was looking and clearly feeling a whole lot better now after the battle he and Falkner's Pidgeot had had. Even Ralph had to admit he had underestimated it. But now he and the rest of Joe's pokémon who had been in the fight were back to full health. Now was the time to leave again.

"Thank you nurse." Joe said as he took back his three pokeballs of the three other pokémon he had. The nurse nodded.

"You're welcome. Come back any time."

The trio left the centre and walked to the end of town, quickly finishing a couple of sandwiches that they'd been quick enough to grab before they left. Ralph flew around in the cold air. This was the true night. This was the world he enjoyed. This was his home. Johto was perfectly acclimatised for him. The walked on for a while until they finally reached what looked like the towns border, where a small wooden fence ran, leaving a gap in which a concrete road travelled through into a field yet also forest covered area of land by the river. It was like a strange mixture of everything urban. By the edge of the road stood Falkner and Pidgeot, leaning or perched on the wooden fence and waiting patiently. When he spotted them he stood up again.

"You two took your time." He commented. Joe raised an eyebrow and looked at his watch.

"We're five minutes early." He said. Falkner shrugged.

"Well it's late enough for me. I've been here the last twenty minutes." Falkner waved a hand towards the road. "Well, shall we get going or not?"

The night was long but surprisingly not arduous or tiring. In fact it was nice for the group to be out in the dark, breathing in the night air and looking up at the stars. They had rarely done so before, even Ralph didn't do it much and he was the only nocturnal member of the group. The world had a much different look to it in the dark. In the wrong mind-set everything was sinister and elongated and paranoid and dangerous, but in the right mind-set a person could realise that everything actually stood out a lot more. There was a nightlife as well as a day life, and if you kept your eyes open you'd see many unique and incredible things. In the dark one footed owl pokémon hooted in the tree branches and flapped from nest to nest, looking out for any possible pray they may spot in the grass. By the river's edge odd mud water pokémon splashed in the dirty sand and sprayed each other with water, while others sieved algae and other microscopic creatures from the water and into their mouths. The group followed the path on, Falkner leading them down the right road and gradually making their way to Union Cave.

Not too far away yet unbeknown to the four travellers a figure slumbered behind a large rock. They had been on the run for a while, ever since New Bark town and had been camped out on Route 32 ever since, training up and forcing himself to be stronger. Currently, like most other people at this point in time, he was sleeping, resting his eyes for the next trainer he forcibly battled. And as the day rose to one o'clock in the morning he was awakened by the sound of talking. One brown eye opened slowly. An ear pricked up. Their mind listened to what the sound was. It sounded like a couple of new trainers walking down the route. At this time of the night? As the sounds got closer he realised that it most definitely was a couple of trainers, three of them to be exact, two male one female. He noticed this from all the references they made to pokémon and battling in their speech patterns. He opened his other eye now and tilted his head to pier over the back of the rock. He could see the night sky and the tops of the trees, but not yet the ground or the people approaching. He smiled to himself. Another possible practice group. He jumped out from behind the rock.

The trio of trainers walked along quietly for the most part. Then about twelve minutes in Falkner suddenly began asking questions to them.

"How did your Ralph learn a move like steel wing?" He asked. "As far as I'm aware the only pokémon that learns it is skarmory. I've never heard of a crobat learning that move before." Joe smiled a little.

"Well he didn't actually learn the move here." He admitted. "No, he was taught it all the way back in Pewter City by the gym leader there, Gordon." Falkner seemed surprised to hear he was naming a gym leader.

"Gordon?" He asked. "You mean Gordon as in Gordon Stone?" Joe nodded. Falkner looked quite shocked. "Gym leaders aren't supposed to aid a trainer who challenges them like that, especially by teaching them a move that is strong to their type." Joe interrupted quickly.

"Actually I'd already beaten Gordon by that point." He added. "It was his older brother, Rocky, who I hadn't beaten yet. He offered to teach Ralph that move to even out our chances."

"But you still won." Falkner said. He was shaking his head with disappointment. "It's still breaking the rules of being a gym leader. I'm surprised he didn't have to face any repercussions for it."

"I think the gym leader position works a little differently in Kanto." Winter explained as best she could. "Over there they're maybe not as strict when it comes to communication between trainer and leader. I used to work as a trainee gym leader in Cerulean city before me and Joe teamed up and I definitely remember that Misty would always talk to her challenger and give a few small hints before wiping out their asses." Joe chuckled. Hearing winter use a description like that about a gym leader he had already beaten made him think back to, in the end, how easy the battle had been for him. Yeah Ralph had only just beat her Starmie and Pitt and Pippy had both been defeated before then, but he'd still won, using steel wing non the less. Falkner seemed in in what she'd said.

"So in Kanto gym leaders are more casual and care free then they are here?" He asked. Winter nodded.

"Yeah. To be honest I thought that most gym leaders anywhere were carefree and happy to battle and lose to anyone. I thought that there was only a small collection of leaders that took their jobs a little too seriously, like Lt Surge in Vermillion." Joe groaned at the memory of that battle. The man had been so static headed and battle ready he'd even tried to claim victory from a draw. Thankfully Ralph had gotten back up, but the fact he was prepared to stop Joe getting the badge because both his pokémon and Joe's were all defeated at the same time was ludicrous. "Actually I'm surprised by how seriously you took it all. With your technique for using a very weak pokémon then switching to a very strong pokémon seems a little unfair on new trainers." Winter explained. "In Kanto the gym leaders usually had three pokémon and the next was always a little stronger than the previous. That allowed the trainer a challenge but still a fair chance to win. Your tactic seems quite unfair. If Joe hadn't been a trainer for the last few months he probably wouldn't have won." Falkner seemed to shrink into his metaphoric shell a little. He clearly understood well the point they were making.

"Well…" He admitted. "I'm… still kind of new to this job. My father was gym leader before me and he always used that kind of technique in battle. Admittedly when he was leader his was number five in the chain and not number one like I am, so he was expected to be that tough." He shrugged. "I guess it does explain why only a few trainers ever manage to beat me, and they're usually more experience." He then stopped walking and sighed. "Ah. I've just realised the point you're making." He said. He turned to the ex-gym trainer. "You're right. I should go easier of trainers from now on. Maybe add a third pokémon to my team to use in between spearow and pidgeot. Maybe a hoothoot or something like." They walked on a few steps more. Then Falkner spoke again. "Hey, hang on. If you two came here from Kanto, how do you have a crobat? Crobats don't come from that region." Joe looked back at Ralph who was gliding happily a few feet to the left of him.

"I didn't actually catch him." He admitted. "I rescued him from a swarm of beedrill. Then professor Oak found us and made us a team. Ralph's my starter pokémon." Falkner looked from the boy to the bat then back to the boy. His raised his eyebrows.

"He is your starter?" He asked. Joe nodded. Falkner looked a little impressed. "Well I'd picked up that he was your favourite, but I never imagined a crobat could be someone's starter pokémon."

"You'd be surprised." Joe told him. "I mean me and Ralph here nearly got the chance to be Kanto cham…"

He was cut off suddenly by a materialising red haired boy who had just jumped out from behind a rock in front of them. He looked to be about the same age as Joe and Winter and he was holding two pokeballs in both hands, clearly looking for a fight.

"Stop there!" He shouted at them. The three travellers stopped in mid walk, looking in bewilderment at the sudden redhead. The boy smiled with a strangely sadistic glint. "Good." He looked at Ralph. "Are you three pokémon trainers?" He asked. They nodded. "In that case, I challenge all three of you to a battle." He announced. "It's not like you'll win anyway." He added in a mutter to himself. The four pairs of eyes in front of him in the dark looked at each other, then back at him.

"All at once or one at a time?" Falkner joked. The boy looked at him.

"No, don't be so stupid. One at a time, not all at once. That wouldn't be fare on me otherwise. God, what do they teach you lot at trainer school?" Joe looked at the boy. He felt he recognised him somehow.

"Have we met before?" Joe asked. The boy glared at him now.

"No. I'd recognise you if I had." He gestured a hand in an insulting way. "You're far too thick skulled to be someone I'd want to know." Then Joe saw the ring on his finger. The memory snapped back into his mind like the last piece of a jigsaw.

"You're the one who broke into the pokémon lab and stole those pokémon the other night!" He realised. The boy's eyes widened. He too suddenly realised where he'd seen the crobat before.

"You're the one who sent that flying beast after me!" He said in an annoyed yet surprised tone. "The one who tried to jump on me and stop me in my tracks." He snickered. "How's the bruises doing?" He taunted. Joe steamed from his ears.

"Wait, you are the thief?" Winter asked. "You stole those pokémon? You?" The boy looked at her.

"Don't sound so surprised. I've done that kind of thing many times before. Stealing's a breeze." He told her with an unkind smile. "Admittedly that's the first time I've ever stolen pokémon before, but the silly old professor left his back window open. I didn't even have to break in. It was all too easy." Joe was glaring very unhappily at the boy.

"Those aren't your pokémon to take. You should take them back to professor Elm right now before the police find you." The boy turned his eyes to him now, his smile fading into a slit and his eyes narrowing impolitely.

"Or what?" He asked. Joe couldn't think of a god answer to give him. The boy stepped up to him. "Who do you think you are, trying to tell me what to do? You don't know me. You don't own me. You're not the boss of me." Joe glared back at him with the same cold stare.

"I'm not playing around." He told him. "You take them back to where they belong now!" The boy folded his arms.

"And what if I don't?" He asked. Joe thought for a second.

"Then I'll take them from you." He said. The boy chuckled. "Really. A weakling like you, who couldn't even take a punch from my ring to the face, is going to try and take back the pokémon I stole from my own hands?" He laughed. "I have a better idea. How about we pokémon battle for them." He announced. "Then we'll see who's the stronger of us two." He held out a flat palm. "But first, your name." He asked. Joe raised an eyebrow to this question, but still he answered it.

"Joseph." He said simply, suspicious tone in his voice. "And yours. The boy folded his arms, holding his stubborn head high.

"Silver." He said. Joe tilted his head.

"Is that a name?"

"Yes. It is." The two trainers glared at each other. "Now are we going to fight or not?" Joe nodded and stepped forward, unzipping jumper and rolling up his sleeves. He was ready to battle this young hooligan.

"Alright, you're on!" He agreed. "We'll battle. Two pokémon on each team! No Items. No outside help! Just me and you! Two on Two!" The boy, Silver, smiled.

"Ok." He raised his pokeballs out in his hands. "Let's battle."

Two pokeballs flew through the air. One burst open and released a young and inexperienced male chikorita, the other snapped wide and threw out a smaller and slightly more experienced cyndaquil. The small fiery long nosed mouse rubbed its snout and spewed a tiny whiff of flame from its minute mouth. Silver seemed to be smiling to himself.

"Ha. You sent out a grass type to fight a fire type. Prepare to be burned!" He threw a hand out. "Cyndaquil, flamethrower!" The small mouse took in a breath, readied its attack, blew out and… released no flame. Only smoke came from its open mouth, hardly a cinder or a flicker of fire anywhere. Silver was furious. "Oh come on!" He shouted at it. "You still can't flame? You're so useless!" The cyndaquil looked very hurt and clearly felt bad about itself now. It drooped its head in sadness. Joe stared at the abusive boy.

"Hey! Don't talk to your pokémon like that!" He shouted. Silver glared at him.

"Why what?" He asked.

"Because it's horrible, unkind and unnecessary!" Winter said, also looking amazed that this boy would dare shout at his pokémon for failing to use a move it clearly didn't know. Silver just folded his arms.

"So?" He asked. "If the pokémon doesn't do what it's told then I'm going to tell it off. Do you have a problem with that?" He received for equally offended stares for this comment.

"You're not a trainer." Falkner said with spite. "You're just a bully to them. You don't respect them as living beings in any way. You just see them as tools." Silver was growling at his opponent now.

"Stop talking and fight already!" He snapped. Joe glared back.

"Leaf, use razor leaf!" Joe called. Leaf whipped his long head leaf and sent a flurry of sharp half circles at the depressed cyndaquil. They hit and knocked it back a little but did very little damage. Cyndaquil looked back as best it could with closed eyes.

"Cyndaquil, use tackle! Knock it down with brute force!" Silver called. Cyndaquil, clearly unmotivated, starter running towards its opponent shoulder first.

"Meet it half way, Leaf!" Joe instructed. Leaf nodded and charged himself. The two pokémon met and collided into each other at the almost half way point of the makeshift battle area. Both were knocked back by the consequential force that their attacks made and both received a relatively big amount of damage.

"Smokescreen!" Silver roared. Cyndaquil puffed a plume of smoke out from its mouth. It may not know how to create proper fire yet but it knew how to create smoke. The cloud flew out and engulfed Leaf who was still getting back up onto both feet. Cyndaquil had been quicker because his feet were closer to the ground already. Leaf choked and coughed on the noxious cloud, blind to his surroundings as his eyes watered badly.

"Leaf, head right!" Joe called through the haze. Leaf heard him and did so, turning to his right and walking forwards, his eyes shut and his lungs closed, hoping he'd make it out of the smoke before it suffocated him. A few steps more and he was out, able to breathe again in the cleared air. "Good. Now turn and take down that cyndaquil." Joe praised and instructed at the same time. Cyndaquil was already preparing another tackle attack when Leaf came charging forward.

"Knock it over!" Silver shouted.

"Fake it out." Joe told his pokémon. Leaf looked at him, confused as to how he could do that. He continued the run. Cyndaquil ran at him also. The tow pokémon were going to collide in the centre again. Cyndaquil sped up his run. Leaf did so also. Then, taking his opponent by surprise, leaf send out a razor leaf which hit the unsuspecting fire mouse in the chest and face. Cyndaquil skidded to a halt, surprised by the attack and taking its attention away from the attacked. It turned away, leaving itself completely open for a finishing blow. "Now, tackle it there!" Joe called. Leaf sped up his run, lowering his head and pressing forward with his shoulders. Cyndaquil didn't turn quick enough to save itself. Leaf crashed head on into his side, knocking the defenceless mouse over and sending rolling on its side back to its trainer's feet. When it finally stopped it lay there on its back, exhausted and beaten. Silver growled.

"You useless little pest!" He grumbled, pulling out Cyndaquil's pokeball. The small pokémon gave a saddened cry as it was withdrawn again and Silver took a second to look at its pokeball. His eyes showed no sympathy or kindness towards it. "That's the fifth time you've failed today. He snarled horribly. "You're so useless!" Joe was amazed to hear a trainer using these words to his pokémon.

"He was only doing his best." Joe told him, astounded by the boy's reaction to loosing. "You should praise him for trying, not punish him for failing." Silver glared at him again.

"Who are you to tell me how to raise my pokémon?" He demanded.

"I'm a gym leader, so maybe my word will be more important to you." Falkner butted in, hopping to maybe at least make the boy think. It didn't work. Silver just continued to glare.

"And who says that either of you treat your pokémon well." He pointed at Ralph. "You've probably buffed him up on so many battle enhancers that he's hardly a crobat anymore." Ralph growled a warning, suggesting that if the child wanted to keep his fingers he'd stop pointing them at him. Silver hissed back, unprofessionally. "I don't imagine any of you would see it my way. People waste too much time on loving and caring for these things that they don't focus enough on empowering them or making them battle-hardened so that they don't fail on you like this." He pulled out the second pokeball, containing the second stolen starter pokémon. Only one of the three was left to be seen here. Silver readied the ball. "Maybe my second pokémon can show you that. Go Totodile!" He threw the ball and when it touched the ground it released the happy dancing blue snapping jaw croc onto the grass. Totodile decided not to focus on its opponent and instead immediately began hopping and dancing from foot to foot in excitement. Silver growled. "No! Stop it!" He shouted at it. "Stay focused on the battle you stupid reptile!" Totodile didn't listen or care. It simply continued to play the fool, never once paying attention to its surroundings.

"Maybe if you didn't abuse it or your other pokémon it would listen to you." Joe suggested. Silver glared at him again. This must have been around the tenth time he'd done so. It seemed to be one of the only facial expressions he knew.

"Shut Up!" He yelled, furiously. He pointed a finger. "Totodile, take his pokémon out, now!" He roared. Upon hearing a command Totodile immediately took focus on the opponent. It snapped its jaw, jabbered to itself in excitement, then rushed in with a raking claw pulled back.

"Razor leaf!" Joe called. Leaf threw the crescent shaped blades at the rampaging Totodile and, while the attack hit and did a lot of damage, it didn't seem to make the small blue aquatic reptile even flinch. Instead totodile just shook the attack of and kept running, heading right towards him. When he finally reached his opponent he lashed out and struck Leaf in the face with a scratch attack. Leaf flinched and stepped back as Totodile hopped around and readied another attack, this time a water gun.

"Take it down!" Silver shouted. Totodile spat out the water gun and drenched the grass type in clean pure water. Leaf looked a little disgusted buck shook the attack of. The only part of it that had hurt in the slightest was the impact. The water itself had done nothing. Silver threw his arms down in anger. "No! Not that move you stupid crocodile!" He yelled at his pokémon. Totodile didn't care. It just continued to hop around on its heels.

"Leaf, growl it!" Joe instructed. Leaf began to make a short high pitched growling sound from his vegetable mouth. Totodile just looked at it and chuckled a little. Even Silver was laughing.

"What was that?" He asked, mockingly. "That was hardly anything like a growl." Leaf looked sad now. Joe was not happy at Silver for discouraging his pokémon. "Totodile, Rage it!" He called. Totodile began pumping its arms as its eyes turned read and energy began to wash over its body as it built up power.

"Try again leaf!" Joe encourage. Leaf wasn't sure if it had a point but he tried growling again, pressed on by the words of his trainer. As he used the move again, this time he made a different sound. Instead of the high pitched whiny growl he had made before, he made a lower pitch, partially intimidating sound. Totodile looked surprised at him. Then it attacked.

"Take it down!" Silver shouted again.

"Tackle it when it attacks!" Joe instructed. Totodile rushed in, claws back and head raised with jaw snapping open and shut as it gabbled excitedly. It reached Leaf and jumped, slamming forward with its whole body. At the same time leaf rammed himself in, striking Totodile in its bare open chest. Both pokémon collided and collapsed. Then the fight ended only Leaf was left standing. Totodile was lying to the side, winded and groaning from the strike to its diaphragm. Silver was surprised. Then he was furious.

"God Damn It!" He yelled, kicking and screaming like a little child. "You won! I don't believe it! My pokémon are just so useless! God!" The three trainers stared at him, amazed he was reacting this way.

"How can you blame your pokémon for loosing?" Winter demanded. "It was your fault it happened. You didn't treat them properly. You didn't train them well enough. You don't respect them at all. You just shout!" Silver was about ready to throw a rock in her face. In fact that's probably what would have happened in Joe hadn't interrupted.

"I think you should hand those pokémon back." He said, giving Silver a demanding look. "You just abuse them. They would be better off out of your hands." Silver withdrew Totodile and held its and Cyndaquil's pokeballs close.

"Never!" He hissed. "I will never give them back." Then he ran off before anyone could say another word.

"Hey! Get back here!" Joe called after him, but it was too late for him to react. By the time he started running Silver was already disappearing into the distance, carrying the two stolen pokémon with him. The three trainers watched him disappear, still quite stunned by the things they'd heard him say.

"Why was he so desperate to battle us?" Winter wondered.

"Probably because he's one of those types who needs to feel they're more powerful than the rest." Falkner explained. "You see them around every now and then. I battle some occasionally at the gym.

"But why did he need to be so mean to his pokémon." Joe said, sounding very spiteful that anyone would dare harm or hate such brilliant creatures. "All they ever did was try and win but he just shouted at them and insulted them and didn't take a second to praise them for at least trying it. How can people like that exist and be so young?" Falkner sighed.

"It's a tough world we live in." He said. "Some people don't get taught how to survive in it very well, so they adapt to its harshness by becoming harsh and unfeeling themselves." Falkner shook his head. "Anyway, come on. We're not far from Union Cave now."

"Damn stuck up trainer!" Silver muttered as he stopped finally in a small field of short grass. Around the field was a small row of trees. Not too far away from him was Union Cave, the large rocky cavern sticking out of a small hillside to the south, to Silver's left side. He groaned with the intake of breath and looked down at his two pokeballs. He glared at them both. "You are both so pathetic!" He growled. "Couldn't even take down one pokémon on his team. And all he used was a weak as grass chikorita, the worst of the three starters. You two couldn't even deal with that!" He was angry at both of them, but especially at Cyndaquil. Ever since he'd stolen it he's been trying to get it to use flame but for some reason the creature just wasn't doing it. The only thing he could assume was that it was refusing to. "You won't listen to me when I make a command!" He snarled, glaring at Cyndaquil's pokeball. "You don't even try to win the battles. I thought that Cyndaquil's were supposed to be really good but you're just plane useless!" He threw the pokeballs which snapped on the grass and released the fire mouse and the aquatic croc from their grip. Totodile continued it's hopping around from foot to foot, but Cyndaquil looked around and turned to its trainer, confused yet hopeful. Silver just glared at it. "Go." He said simply. "I don't want you in my team. You're just too useless. Get out of here." Cyndaquil looked shocked. Totodile was aghast.

"Dile!" It said. Cyndaquil scrunched itself up, unsure and upset.

"Quil?" It pleaded, desperately. All it wanted was to be loved and respected by him, by Silver had already made up his mind.

"No. I don't care what you have to say to me. You're a useless and pathetic creature and I want you gone. Don't even think about following me. I never want to see you again." Cyndaquil began to cry. It was heartbroken. This boy had just taken him in and thrown him away without even caring for it. Cyndaquil felt its world snap and break. It drooped its head, its snout touching the ground, soft wet tears rolling down it. Totodile looked at its master, then at the distraught Cyndaquil.

"Toto?" It asked, worried and upset.

"Don't you start acting up, too!" Silver snapped. "It's bad enough I'm kicking one of you away, I don't want to have to do it to the both of you." He waved a hand north. "Now come on. Let's go already!" Silver stomped of, dropping Cyndaquil's pokeball on the grass as he did so. Totodile went to comfort his friend but didn't after getting a sharp snap at from his trainer and instead followed after him, looking sadly back at Cyndaquil as he ran. Cyndaquil called after them both but they didn't call back. Eventually they were both gone, disappearing into the distance.

Cyndaquil sat there crying its eyes out. It had no trainer, no home, no one to care for it. Now it didn't have a friend in the world. It had never felt so alone before. The sound of screeching owls echoes from the trees. Cyndaquil looked around in fear. In the dark it saw small eyes watching from in between the branches. It began to feel fear for the first time. It panic Cyndaquil picked up its pokeball and ran away, heading towards Union Cave in the hope of finding somewhere safe to rest for the night.


	6. Chapter 6: Echoes in Union Cave

**This chapter's a bit shorter then the others, mainly because there isn't as much to put in it. Still, I hope it's interesting to read. The next chapter will probably be longer as much more will happen in it.**

* * *

"And here on your right you will see Union Cave, in all its cavernous eroded splendid." Falkner announced. The grouped stood just in front of the cave entrance, looking into the dark inside from the dark outside. It had been a tiring night journey to reach it but they had made it there relatively unscathed. Apart from that Silver guy they hadn't received any hassle from any trainers or wild pokémon. "Well, this is where I leave you both." Falkner continued, turning around and taking a step back. Pidgeot strapped the road with its talons and hopped to his side, preparing to travel back as well.

"Thank you, Falkner." Joe said gratefully. "For getting us here so quickly and in one piece."

"Think nothing of it." The gym leader replied. "It was nice spending a little time getting to know the three of you. Your great people and you've open my eyes more to my job. If anyone should be thanking anyone, it should be me thanking you." Joe and Winter rubbed the back of their own heads.

"Well…" Winter's cheeks went pink. "We just spread our own knowledge a little. Hope you make it back to Violet City safely." Falkner chuckled.

"There isn't a man or pokémon that would dare challenge me on this route." He told them, putting his hands on his hips. Pidgeot clucked in agreement. Winter raised an eyebrow.

"What about a women?" She asked. Falkner seemed to consider this.

"That would be a different matter." He joked. Then he smiled. "Good luck to the both of you. Safe travels and bountiful battles." And with that last farewell the gym leader saddled his giant pigeon and flew of low over the land, heading for his own home further north, back in Violet City. His gym called him with its warm nests, comfy swings and cleansing bird baths. The two trainers, and one crobat, waved, as best they could, after him, wishing farewell to the young and kind soul. When they finally stopped Winter realised she was being stared at. Joe was looking at her with a small snigger hinting on his face.

"Where you flirting with him?" He asked, trying to stifle a laugh. Winter blushed.

"What?" She asked. "No… He… I… No… I was just being friendly."

"Maybe a little too friendly." Joe knew that he was annoying her. That was the main reason he kept on poking her with the subject. She glared at him.

"Shut up." She tried not to smile at his dumb expression. "Come on, or the bats will start going back to sleep." Her attempt at a joke was a flat failure but Joe chuckled anyway, mainly at the attempted effort. Ralph just looked at the two in confusion as they walked into the cave together. As he watched he turned to the air, gave a shrug of not understanding and followed after them, heading inside the dark, damp cave and away from the night world, out of its cold, quiet, relaxing air and away from its beautiful scenery, claiming only the forgotten internal catacombs of the world.

* * *

Into the dark the poor unfortunate cyndaquil wandered, alone, afraid, unconfident and unwanted. He had never felt so separated, so unsure, so terrified in its entire life. All he'd tried to do ever since his trainer had taken him with him when he came to that big white room was be a good partner. He wanted to do well for him. He wanted to be a strong pokémon, an efficient, skilled, well taught, much loved team mate. But he had failed him. He wasn't strong. He wasn't confident. He wasn't useful. He could hardly even create flame. What fire type couldn't make fire? He stumbled over to a rock about the same size as him and began bashing his head against it in anger and disappointment. Why was he so useless? The problem had come from his parenting. His parents had been a little odd, too. His mother had been born a different colour to all the rest and he always remembered that the other pokémon would point it out. It was probably something to do with that that made him just so different to every other cyndaquil. He was unique, and it looked like trainers didn't want unique pokémon. He rubbed his sore forehead with his short stubby arms. Tears began to fall again. He didn't feel worthy to be a trainer's pokémon anymore. He had been born to be a trainer pokémon, yet he wasn't good at it. What purpose was there to an unwanted trainer pokémon? How could he find himself a meaning again. Subconsciously his mind drifted to the pokémon he had battled, the enduring and surprisingly tough pile of plant matter chikorita, and its trainer, the tall boy in the black-blue jacket and jeans. The one with the brown spiky hair. He had seemed nice. He was kind to his pokémon. Maybe someone like he would want him. Maybe a human like him would have sympathy for a useless cyndaquil. Cyndaquil shook his head, unable to think positively anymore. No, he decided. That boy wouldn't want him around either. What human would? He wailed with sobs running down his fiery cheeks. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be back in the lab. He wanted to be loved for who he was. He wanted to be a good pokémon. He sat there by the rock, crying distraughtly into its side, not breathing or stopping over its rush of emotion.

In the dark behind him something moved, fluttering and shifting in the stalactite covered roof. Cyndaquil stopped sobbing, sudden fear gripping his body. He looked around and saw nothing. Was it his imagination playing tricks on him? He looked into the dark. Then he saw something move again, scuttling across the ceiling in an unnatural manner. Cyndaquil stepped back. This was definitely not a mistake. Something was out there. He had to know if it was friendly. He wasn't going to sit here and panic over something harmless. He had to man up… or pokémon up in his case.

"Quil?" He called out cautiously, his voice echoing down the cavern halls like the whisper of rain in a thundercloud. There was no response. Then, suddenly, a sharp screech came.

"Zuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" The sound ricocheted around the hanging rock pillars and made the stone dust shape and spray. The whole cave seemed to come alive. More screeches joined in, sounding exactly like the first and creating an unholy chorus of deafening sound. Cyndaquil covered his ears, trying to suffocate out the sound and terrified out of his mind.

"Cynda!" He cried in pain. The sounds bounced around in an attacking sphere of audio, rolling up the petrified young pokémon in its icy unphysical grasp. Then small purple bodies appeared in the dark, swooping with fanged jaws open and large ears twitching at the returning sounds, diving in a spread out swarm at the single defenceless creature. Cyndaquil defended himself in the only way he knew how. He tried to breathe fire.

* * *

The footsteps of the group echoed in a quiet thu'dunk-ing pattern, landing simultaneously and bouncing around the thick rock walling and caverns. Ralph was beginning to find it a little annoying. Even if they couldn't stop making the sound could they at least tread lighter so they didn't make in so annoyingly quiet. Joe and Winter meanwhile were a few feet below him, walking on ground level. So far none of them had really figure out where they were going. They had come across a sign saying that Azalea town's exit was in the direction ahead so they'd taken its advice and followed it. They only hoped that the arrow on the sign hadn't been moved to face the other way. But never-the-less they continued on.

Soon enough they were beginning to get tired from a mixture of constant walking and from being up so late. They took a quick rest in a small alcove on the path, big enough for the three of them to sit, lie down and stand in, even Ralph. They decided to take a quick rest and get their strength back.

Joe collapsed down against the rock wall, exhaling with loud exhaustion. He was tired still. He hadn't had much sleep at the pokémon centre because when they had called it a night every other trainer was still up and walking around in the lobby, crying over their injured pokémon or simply getting a quick check up. The sounds of their pacing and their chattering had drifted into his conscious and kept it stirred for hours, unable to switch off. Now he was fighting to keep it awake even longer. His eyes kept wanting to droop shut. It was clear the others were struggling with the same problem. He had to do something to keep them and himself awake longer.

So, how are you enjoying Johto?" Winter asked suddenly, taking Joe a little by surprise. He turned to her, sitting up properly to face his friend.

"Um…" He said automatically. He was a little unsure how to answer that. He hadn't spent enough time in this region to truly know if he was enjoying it all. "Yeah, I am." He decided finally. Winter nodded. She fell silent again. It seemed she had tried to do the same thing Joe was going to do. Start a conversation to stop themselves from falling asleep. "What about you?" Joe asked her. Winter caught her eyes from closing just quick enough. She hummed and looked back at him.

"Well, I've enjoyed it I guess." She told him. "But to be honest we haven't done that much so far. Hopefully that'll change when we get to Azalea town." Joe nodded in agreement.

"They have a gym there, so maybe we can get a battle there sooner rather than later." Winter hummed.

"Maybe I should try one of those gym battles myself." She though. Then she laughed. "I'd probably be awful but, heck, it's worth a try at least." Joe chuckled too.

"I can just imagine it." He told her. "You'd walk up and say 'I want to challenge you to a pokémon battle.', and they'd say something like 'Not likely. I don't see any trainer card on you'." Winter looked at him.

"I keep it in back pocket." She told him.

"What back pocket?"

"Ones I'm not going to tell you about, obviously."

There was a short silence. Ralph had already fallen asleep by now. Their awkward enough conversations was the tranquiliser for his mind which finally knocked him back into the void of slumber. It was bad enough that he had to hear them talk like this in the daytime. The only thing that hinted he'd drifted of was the quiet whisper of snoring from his small flat nose. Joe and Winter looked up at the roof where small droplets of calcific water fell of the stalactites above occasionally, dripping around the room with light pats. Joe rested his head back against the rock.

"This adventure seems to be going a lot more interestingly to start with then our previous one." Joe said aloud. Winter turned to him again from her sitting area.

"Really?" She asked, both sarcastically and curiously.

"Yeah." Joe continued. "I mean, when we first met in Kanto, until we beat Rocky and Gordon in Pewter City, the only things that really happened were we were caught up in an armed robbery, confronted by three flamboyantly dressed idiots and attacked by a swarm of angry homeless spearow and one very angry fearow. Before we even reached Violet City here we were chasing thieves, re-confronting those same three fools and discovering Team Rocket's return while they tried to steal pokémon eggs." He paused. "Which of those sounds more amazing to you?" Winter thought it over for a while.

"Well, when you put it like that…" She agreed, though slightly unsure herself. "But, to be honest, would you want to be chasing criminal children and stopping Rocket Grunts on your first time through a region. That's not really something that most kids plan for."

"I guess." Joe agreed. He sighed. "I kind of miss the feeling of it actually. Starting your journey for the first time. It's not the same. I already have some experience. In that respect everything's been quite a lot easier this time." Winter moved a little closer.

"Well, yeah, but this time will be different to the previous time, won't it." She explained. "No experience is the same the second time around… or the third… or the forth… or the fifth… or the…" Joe held up a hand to stop her.

"I get the point." He said. She shrugged back.

"Good." Joe took his open hat of and rubbed his scalp with tiredness. He wanted to shut his eyes, but at the same time he didn't. Beside him Ralph was still snoring and Joe had only just realised this. He elbowed his Crobat friend, jolting him awake with a start.

"Hey, don't go to sleep on us." He snapped in a jokey tone. Ralph shook himself awake and he gave an unhappy glare at his friend. Joe just smiled slightly back. "Yeah, I know you're tired. So am I, but we should just rest before we continue, not go to sleep completely." Ralph just continued to look at him, before curling up and rolling onto his side, looking away from Joe and Winter.

"Let him be." Winter said, softly. "We can wake him when we move on." Joe sighed in agreement and laid back against the rock wall again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his bag twitch slightly. Suddenly he was sitting up again, leaning in with a flash of movement and opening his bag with a single swishing movement. Before Winter could even react Joe had the pokémon egg out again and he was holding it in his arms like a gigantic Easter egg.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Joe shushed her immediately.

"Be quiet." He whispered, his ear up against the tough shell. "It's moving!" He had a ridiculous grin on his face, the kind you saw silly fathers use to make their kids laugh at how silly they were. Winter didn't even choose her reaction to this, her eyes rolling in their sockets like pinballs. Was Joe really going to be one of those dads? It wasn't even his pokémon, not biologically anyway. He'd been given it, yet he seemed to be treating it like an actual child. God forbid he ever did have actual children. He tapped the shell lightly with a finger, making a small, short 'f'tink' sound of the outer case. From inside there was a much deeper 'Th'dunk' as the pokémon tapped back. Joe laughed. "Sounds alive to me." He told her. Winter sighed.

"But not like it's ready to hatch yet." Winter added. Joe shrugged.

"No, but it can't be far of now." He said. He bounced the egg on his lap. Winter groaned.

"Did you happen to grow a few more idiot cells I your brain since we picked that thing up?" She asked him. Joe looked at her.

"What are you on about?" He asked.

"That's not your egg. Your pokémon didn't lay it. We took it from a deceased Togetic that asked us to take care of it for her. Why are you acting like it's your own." Joe continued to look at her.

"I don't understand the problem." He said. Winter exhaled.

"It's not your kid, Joe. It's not a human being. It's a pokémon, and pokémon grow in a different way to us. Most of them mature a lot quicker. They're also born with different natural instincts. Baby pokémon are designed to be ready for a life of constant movement and travelling and fending for themselves, whereas human children aren't reared that way anywhere near as much. They'll grow up quick, and then, when it's ready, eventually it's going to want to… leave the nest." Joe continued to look at her.

"But what if it's not a bird?" He argued. "And we don't have a nest to put it in."

"It was a metaphor!" Winter told him. "I mean eventually it shall have to leave and find its own path. And that could be tough on you. I'm just saying that you should be prepared for when that day comes, if the egg even decides to hatch at all." She fell silent again, this time leaning her back on the wall and looking away from Joe, seemingly ending the conversation right there. "Now could we just stop talking?" She asked. Joe looked a little shocked by her outburst.

"Ok." He said, still a little surprised. "Didntknowthatwouldannoyyousomuch." He whispered to himself without pausing for breath.

"I heard that!" Winter snapped. Joe gulped and turned away. With the silence from his two friends we has left sitting with nothing to do and no one to talk to. He had already put the egg back into his bag where it would be safer. Soon his eyes were shutting again and before he could do anything about it he'd fallen into sleep.

 **Some time later…**

There was a sudden echoed screech from further down the cave.

"Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" The group sat up and looked around in small surprise to the sound. It was followed by a chorus of the sound from multiple mouths.

"What is that sound?" Winter asked, her ears covered from the horrible high pits screeching which echoed from far away towards them.

"Zubats." Joe said simply, covering his ears only a little. "Sounds like a feeding frenzy is about to start up."

"That can't be good." Winter commented. Joe shook his head in agreement.

"No, it's not really." He told her. "My uncle told me about events like this. Zubat are said to do this when a swarm finds a lone pray which they can…" He was cut off by another crying sound, this time the scream was less high pitched but more singular and a lot more terrified sounding.

"Quuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiillllllll!" The scream echoed louder and longer then the zubat screech which quickly reached over the levels of human hearing. Ralph gripped his ears and held them shut, feeling a severe amount of pain from the constant echoing calls. Joe and Winter looked at each other, unsure if they were hearing the same thing.

"That doesn't sound like a zubat." She shouted over the echoes. Joe nodded.

"No." He agreed. "It sounded more like a…" He stopped as his mind placed the puzzle pieces together for him. When it had done his jaw dropped slightly and he stood straight up. "Oh my god, we have to help it!" He said suddenly. Then he ran off into the cave, towards the screeching sound's origin. Winter called after him.

"Hey, where are you going?" She asked, but Joe didn't hear her. He dashed of further into the dark. Winter groaned. "He's going to get himself killed one of these days." She got up, grabbed her bag and followed behind. Ralph joined her, still trying to deafen out the screeches to his sensitive ears.

Right foot over left, Joe ran head on into the shadowed caves, following the sound of blood hungry screeching and terrified cries of fear and pain. He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to get there and quick. If he was right then a young and most likely undefended pokémon was in a lot of danger. He had recognised the cries from earlier that night. From the battle he had with that redheaded trainer, Silver. He had a pokémon that sounded exactly like this one. Joe's fears were confirmed when he turned a corner and found himself standing at the edge of a large cave entrance, illuminated by flowing river under moonlight, reflecting into the large cavern. Not too far away from him was a huge flapping swarm of arm sized purple zubats, all crowded around something small and weak and injured and dark blue. The fluttered like a cloud of skin and fangs and screeches above the prey they had picked and subdued till it was not able to defend itself any longer. Joe's eyes diluted, his heart stopped, his lungs gripped, his hands fell open, his legs went stern, his breath was short and his mind was set.

"No." He gasped quietly. "No. They can't…" He stared at the zubats and at their target. The small creature lying against a rock, a hungry zubat perched on top of it with its incisors ready to pierce its neck, was the cyndaquil that had been stolen from Professor Oak's lab. Joe clenched his fists. Unthinkingly his hands reached for the pokeballs on his belt.

"Jooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooeeee!" Came the echoed voice of Winter from back down the cave way he had run through. The zubats suddenly looked around in surprise, the shout confusing their ears and disrupting their echo location. Joe gritted his teeth and growled at the pre-evolved crobats in their primal form. They disgusted him.

"Alright, you blind blood sucking creeps!" He hissed, unclipping two of the pokeballs. "You want breakfast? You've got to beat it!" He threw the pokeballs. Pippy and Mar appeared out onto the cave floor, closely followed by Leaf who's ball was thrown once Joe had a free hand again. All three pokémon immediately looked around, turned to Joe and cried a confused question. Before Joe could even stop them the swarm of zubats turned around in a single unthinking action and looked (Or rather faced) down towards them. Joe groaned. "Well there goes the advantage." He muttered. Then he began pointing fingers and shouting commands. It was the main part of his job. "Pippy, use thunderbolt, knock them out of the sky! Mar, use water gun, spray them down! Leaf…" He paused to think for a second. "Um…" He tried. "Do you know any moves useful for this?" He asked. Leaf looked a little crest fallen, or rather leaf fallen in his case. He shrugged his legs. "Oh, ok." Joe said. "Well, let's give it a try, shall we." Joe's other pokémon had already starter their attacks. Pippy had fired a huge bolt of lightning from his cheeks up, striking several zubats with the tip and several more with the aftershock cloud made from the explosion, knocking all the ones hit out of the air. But still more swarmed. Mar spat several blobs of water from his mouth, hitting sever bats with each and knocking them out of the air, too. And still more came. They kept trying, but with every bat they knocked down, three more flew in to take their place. Behind him Joe heard Winter turn up finally, Ralph arriving just ahead of her but much more silently.

"There you are. What's going…?" She began, before spotting the huge veil of purple flapping bats and realising the problem. "Oh." She said simply. Ralph joined her in looking at the swarm and making a very simple 'oh' face himself. "I suppose you need a hand for this one, don't you." She asked. Joe nodded subtly.

"It would be very helpful." He admitted. Winter nodded back and, without another word, pulled out one of her own pokeballs. He threw it with a flick of her hand.

"Go Staryu." She called. This was the first time that she'd brought out her starter pokémon since they'd arrived in Johto. Unfortunately for it the first place in Johto it had seen was the inside of a damp dark cave. Not the best place for any pokémon to first see of a new land, let alone a person. Still, there was some nice moonlit water for it to stand in or use in battle. Staryu twitched its five legs and pointed its red jewel up at its trainer. "Staryu, help Joe and his pokémon take down all the zubats!" She instructed. Staryu nodded simply and unquestioningly, rotating on a pivot and facing the huge flock of night hidden vampires. It fired a bubblebeam, hit a clump of zubats, took them out instantly, and was then dive-bombed and tackled by another group of kamikazes. Winter gulped. "Ok, this may be a little tougher than first thought." She muttered as she watched her pokémon be bitten over and over by several tiny mouths. Eventually Staryu managed to scatter them with a rapid spin.

"We need to work together to clear them." Joe realised. Attacking them one at a time wasn't working, because every time they did so another swarm of bats would take their place. But if they all attacked together they may be able to clear a big enough area for long enough for one of them to run past and rescue the weak cyndaquil behind. "Get out Zephyr and Lucky. We'll need them to help out." Joe instructed. Winter nodded in agreement, releasing the two pokémon to help out. Her pidgeotto and Chansey appeared in the cave beside Staryu.

"What do you need them to do?" She asked. Joe gestured a hand.

"Get zephyr to create a whirlwind and create a path to walk through safe. As for Lucky I want her to follow me." He explained. Winter looked at him.

"You're not seriously going to run through a swarm of zubat?" She asked stunned. "That's basically suicide.

"Someone's got to help that pore thing." Joe told her courageously. "If not anyone else, then me." Lucky looked a little frightened and concerned but made no call against him. Joe turned to his own pokémon. "Pippy, you come with me, too." He said. Pippy nodded, ran up to him, climbed up his leg and perched on his shoulder. He squeaked happily. Joe smiled at him.

"What are you expecting to achieve?" Winter asked him, confused.

"I need to get to it." Joe explained simply. "Before it's too late. Alright Pippy, get ready to defend me!" Pippy squeaked. Sparks came from his cheeks. "As for the rest of you, cover my back and clear me a path!" He called. Leaf, Mar, Staryu and Zephyr nodded their allegiance and readied attacks. Ralph looked confused at Joe, seemingly asking what his job was. Joe chuckled. "Don't worry, Ralph. You get the most important job." Ralph looked excited. Joe nodded. "Yeah. You get to keep the path open. Ralph's excited smile faded instantly, changing to disappointment. Joe chuckled.

"Staryu, Zephyr, prepare to attack!" Winter instructed. Staryu and the pidgeotto flexed their limbs and prepared various attacks. She nodded to Joe. He nodded back.

"Mar, Leaf, you guys ready?" He asked. Mar nodded, flicking his bauble tail as he did so. Leaf nodded a second after and, as he did so, his single long leaf on his head flicked in a circle, creating a strange shimmer of pink-blue light. A translucent glistening light barrier formed in front of him, spreading out rapidly and forming a long and wide barrier around Joe, Winter, Ralph and all of their pokémon. Joe and Winter stepped back in sudden surprise. "What in the…?" Joe stuttered, not sure what to make of this sudden wall in front of him.

"Did leaf just create a wall?" Winter asked, confused.

"Yeah." Joe muttered. I think he did. At this point a zubat decided to attack. It dived down, sped forwards and flew straight through the light wall as if it wasn't there. Leaf however didn't seem worried by this. Instead he stood his ground bravely. The zubat fluttered towards him and rammed into his front. To everyone's surprise, however, he took almost no damage from the attack. The zubat had already been exhausted from breaking through the light wall that its attack had fallen below useful levels. Leaf smacked it away with his leaf and watched as the other zubats swarmed up in defence. Joe smiled cunningly. "That's going to help a lot." He whispered. "Good job, Leaf." Leaf smiled at him, proudly. "Now! Take them down!" Joe cried. Mar and Leaf threw their attacks, sending spinning leaves and globules of water flying up at the bats, knocking them away and slowly creating a pathway. Staryu joined in, firing a powerful hydro pump at the swarm and splitting it in half. Zephyr gusted his wings and knocked many bats backwards, splitting the swarm and creating a pathway in between just big enough for Joe to run through.

"Now's your chance"!" Winter told him. "Go! We'll cover you." Joe nodded and without a second word ran forwards, passing through the reflective wall and through the now split group of zubats, Pippy perched on his shoulders and Lucky gripping onto his arm and waddling as fast as she could after him. Ralph followed suit, knocking away the flurry of bats that broke away and tried to attack as they passed under. He swung at them with wings and teeth and knocked them out of the air one by one. Pippy joined in, jumping from Joe's shoulder and onto Ralph's back as he passed, shooting a collection of small sparks at the bats and slowing them down with flashes of yellow. The effect of the wall Leaf had set up followed them too. Joe quickly realised that he was surrounded by a moving bubble of pink-blue light which bent to his movements and coated around his frame, shaping with his body. As he ran, it ran with him, never getting close to touching his feet. This shield was deflecting any damage from any attacks he or his pokémon took, as they were coated in the exact same shielding. One lucky yet unlucky zubat managed to reach Lucky and strike her with its wing but all it managed to do with that was take the pink walking egg nurse by surprise. She quickly taught it a lesson by slapping it away with a double slap. They quickly made it through the tunnel of bats and out the other side. The cyndaquil was completely unconscious now, subdued by an extra-large zubat with its fangs out and wings draped across its body. Joe pulled back a flat hand.

"Hey, get away from it!" He yelled. He swatted at the Zubat, making it scatter away, fangs still bare and it disappeared back into the swarm. The huge cluster of bats began to get agitated as the closest members turned and faced the human and pokémon that had managed to get past. "Ralph, hold them back!" Joe called. Ralph nodded, preparing his sharp wings to strike any attempting pests. A couple of not to bright zubats tried to take him out, only to find themselves floating to the floor like beaten and flat purple paper towels. Ralph readied again as another small cluster of bats tried to take him out. Meanwhile Joe, Lucky and Pippy rushed to the injured cyndaquil's side. It was hardly breathing, its small eyes fixed shut and emitting small wheezing breaths through its nose. Joe placed a hand on its forehead. It was burning hot, but he didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad, considering the pokémon was a fire type.

"Are you ok?" Winter called from the other side of the bats. "Did you get to it?" Joe struggled to think about two things at once. Eventually once his mind had properly decrypted what she had called he realised the right response.

"Yeah. We're okay. The cyndaquil is hurt quite badly, though. It needs medical help." He called back.

"Lucky, give Joe and hand in healing it." Winter called to her chansey. Lucky nodded faithfully and waddled to Joe's side, placing her own hand on Cyndaquil's head. She immediately took it off and shook it, exclaiming something in poke-speech. She examined the small bite wounds on its neck and checked its breath. Once she'd done that she turned to Joe and gave him a very worried expression.

"Is it really bad?" He asked. Lucky nodded. "Can you help it?" He added. Thankfully Lucky gave a small hopeful nod, smiling and turning back to the unconscious Cyndaquil. She gestured Pippy towards her now. The small fuzzy electric mouse looked confused but joined Lucky anyway, hopping to help somehow. Lucky pointed at him and then down at Cyndaquil, making a following gesture that looked like some kind of bomb explosion. Pippy was wide eyed. Clearly he knew what Lucky was thinking and he didn't like it. "What's she saying?" Joe asked. Pippy turned to him, pointed and Cyndaquil, then sparked for a second. Joe tried to pull the pieces together. "She wants you…" He tried. "To… electrocute… cyndaquil?" Pippy nodded gravely. "How will that help?" Joe asked again. They looked at Lucky for the answer. Lucky imitated Pippy firing an electric bolt, followed by the bumping of a heart with sound effects. "Kick its heart back to life!" Joe realised finally what she was suggesting.

"Whatever you're going to do, hurry up!" Winter called from beyond the veil of fangs and wings. "We can't fight them back forever and Staryu and Zephyr are getting tired." Joe turned to Lucky, then to Pippy, his face stern.

"Do what you've got to do." He decided. Pippy nodded. Lucky smiled. The two pokémon circled around the hurt Cyndaquil. They rolled it onto its back and Pippy placed both his paws onto its chest, pumping heavily. Lucky took the hurt pokémon's hand and checked its pulse. Pippy's fur began to spark with white electricity. Then suddenly he fired a small but sharp bolt of static directly through his hands, using them as defibrillators and striking Cyndaquil's chest. The electric shock was sent straight through its ribs and zapped the heart, shocking it back into a rapid beating. Cyndaquil yelled, exclaimed, sat up and breathed in rapidly. Pippy and Lucky jumped back in surprise. Joe looked amazed. Ralph looked back for one second while fighting of several zubat and smiled happily. They had succeeded in waking it up. It was going to be okay. Cyndaquil looked around at its saviours, seeing the small sparking pikachu and the larger smiling chansey standing to its side. Then it saw a boy kneeling a little further back, watching them. Cyndaquil recognised him instantly. It was that same boy who had used the chikorita to battle and defeat his previous trainer. He remembered him being kind towards him, even if his master had been cruel because of it. It remembered the words he had spoken. It made it feel bad about itself again.

"Quil." Cyndaquil covered its face in shame, embarrassed to be seen by such a strong opponent in this way. Joe smiled down at it.

"Don't worry." He reassured it. "We're going to get you out of here and get you some help." He turned to Ralph. "Alright, Ralph. Get ready to defend us again. Ralph nodded to him and smiled. It looked like they had succeeded in rescuing the abandoned fire starter.

Suddenly, without warning, a horrible chorus of echoed screeches sounded from the swarm, echoing around the cave wall like an unholy choir of demonic vocals. It bounced of the stone walls and rippled through the air in its own swarm. Ralph immediately flinched, screeching with the bleeding pain in his ears as he spun around, trying to reach his ears with his front wings and block out the awful sound. He closed shut his eyes and called out, trying to deafen the sounds out with his own voice. Joe watched his closest friend spin in a rotor, trying to block out the screeches of a dozen bats. He, Lucky, Pippy, Cyndaquil, Winter, Leaf, Staryu, Mar and Zephyr were all covering their own ears as well. The only one who was unable to do so was Ralph, because he was the only one who had to remain flying while covering his ears with the same limbs.

"Ralph, don't listen!" Joe tried to instruct but Ralph wasn't paying attention. "Don't let them distract you!" But Ralph couldn't hear his friend's cries.

"Joe, what's happening back there?" Winter called, just audibly over the shrieking of the zubats. Then they began to dive again, this time attacking in a huge swarm as almost half of the cloud of bats attacked, fangs bared. They swarmed around Ralph till he was almost inviable in their embrace, latching onto his wings and body with their clawed wings and hook legs. They began to bite and scratch at him, clawing away and slowly witling him down together. Ralph lashed out again and again but only succeeded to knock one or two bats off. They were quickly replaced by more bats.

"Ralph!" Joe exclaimed, helplessly unable to do anything to protect his friend. He tried to scare the bats away but they paid no attention, hissing when he got close and lunging when he tried to swat them away. He stepped back, unable to defend his pokémon. "Pippy, Lucky, do something!" He exclaimed.

"Joe!" Winter called, worried for him. Joe didn't call back. She could just barely see him at one point as the bats attacking her pokémon shifted around, trying to create a confusing motion of a giant creature moving.

"Pippy!" Joe cried. Pippy rushed over to Ralph and jumped, sparking and firing a small field of static out from his fur, shocking several zubats. Unfortunately, not only did this prove ineffective as more bats just took their place, but also the bats that had been shocked now attacked Pippy, swooping in and trying to bite his tail. The small mouse ran away, avoiding the hungry nips of the blood sucking bats. Lucky tried to help out by running after him and throwing a full and explosive egg at the bats chasing. Unfortunately her attack missed and the egg went sailing forwards and struck Pippy in the back of the head, knocking him to the floor in a daze. The bats gave up their chase and instead went for the now awakened cyndaquil. Cyndaquil backed up against the rock, frightened out of its life. The bats flew closer. "No! Get away from it!" Joe shouted, swatting at the bats to get them away from the unprotected pokémon. He managed to his one of them and knock it away before the bats scattered and swarmed him. He swiped widely at them but to no effect. One lucky bat caught grip of his arm and bit down hard on his wrist. Joe yelled in pain.

"Zephyr, Staryu, push these bats back now!" Winter called. There was the sound of heavy gusting wing and rapid water. Small droplets were flung over the top of the bat wall and landed by Cyndaquil's feet. It had its back completely to the wall now, facing down three zubats, their ears twitching and their fangs bare. Cyndaquil tried to flame but all it managed to do was make smoke come from its nose. The zubats edged closer. It tried again, this time creating a small ember which went out almost instantly in a whiff of gut, leaving only drifting ash in the air. The zubats edged closer still. Ralph was almost covered in Zubats now as they pressed him slowly onto the ground.

"Ralph!" Joe cried, trying to reach his best friend, but the zubats attacking him were to pestering and too painful to fight against. Cyndaquil watched his true friendship shine in him. Joe was so desperate to protect his own pokémon that he would willingly rush into danger head long to save his life. Cyndaquil felt something ignite inside of it, quite literally. It felt, for the first time since its birth, a true feeling of friendship. It breathed in heavily, shut its eyes, pulled back its head and breathed out.

"Quuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…!" The room exploded with flame. Burning fire flooded from Cyndaquil's mouth, engulfing the entire cavern with burning embers. The zubats in front of it were enveloped instantly, leaving the charred and unconscious bodies on the floor in front of him. Ralph was surrounded by a coating of blaze which kicked of the attackers, freeing him again and leafing him drifting for a second, suddenly free. The large swarm of zubats in between Joe's rescue team and Winter's collection of remaining team members was shattered into clumps and clusters as the flames passed straight through the middle and split it in half. The zubat scattered, some attacking the nearest thing to them, which was often another zubat, others disappearing back into the darkness of the caves and huddling away into the small cracks and hiding out of danger again. The room was cleared up again, leaving only a few still determined Zubats left floating around. Now it was them who were in trouble. Ralph was free again. He narrowed his eyes and focused from remaining bat to other remaining bat. He held out his wings, straightened them, glided, and then sped out, flying up and knocking away each and every bat he flew past. With just ten seconds all the bats remaining where unconscious and lying on the floor in a carpet of purple. Ralph held his wings out like parachutes and glided to a stop at Joe's side, perching on the rock Cyndaquil was standing by and folding his wings in, looking proud. Joe, Winter and all their pokémon simply looked at the piles of bats that were lying around the cave floor. Joe sighed in amazement.

"Well that happened." He muttered, still quite surprised. Cyndaquil was jumping about for joy. Finally it had learned to flame. Finally it was worthy of its trainer. Ralph looked down at the tiny fire mouse in unsure confusion. Why was it so excited? All they'd done was defeat a couple of zubat. He couldn't figure it out.

"Why were they even swarming like that?" Winter wondered aloud. Joe shrugged.

"Dunno." He said. "Maybe they were disturbed or enraged by something. As far as I know zubat don't usually swarm for no reason."

"I guess it doesn't matter too much anymore. They've been taken out now. Now they can't hurt any other pokémon." Winter told him. Then they both realised.

"What about Cyndaquil?" Joe asked. They turned together to face the flaming mouse. It was jumping about from foot to foot, clapping its hands and smoking from its nostrils.

"It seems to be okay now." Winter smiled. "Thank god for that. I don't think I could stand seeing another pokémon die this week." Joe smiled back at her and then walked up to Ralph, Lucky and the now quite happy and healthy fire mouse. Cyndaquil looked at him, still smiling and breathing smoke from its nose. Joe suddenly realised something about this small thing in front of him.

"You don't think that this is…?" He asked. He saw that Winter was giving him the same look. "Silver's cyndaquil, do you?" He finished.

"The one he stole from Professor Elm?" Winter continued, joining him over by the rock after withdrawing all her pokémon except chansey back into their balls. "I think it might be." She agreed. Cyndaquil looked up at the two of them, feeling a little confused as to why they were looking up at him like that.

"Cynda-quil? It asked, unsurely. Ralph was looking at it too now, seemingly able to see the similarities as well. Cyndaquil felt a little unnerved by the number of eyes looking at it and backed away. Joe knelt down so he was at eye level with the fiery pokémon.

"Where's your trainer?" Joe asked it simply. Cyndaquil's expression fell again. It was clearly sad about something, but at this point the two trainers couldn't tell what.

"Qui… Quil." Cyndaquil muttered quietly as small tears began to form in its eyes. Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"I… think he's been left here." Winter whispered, sounding quite gloomy as she said it.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked her. Then his eye caught something small and red behind Cyndaquil. Joe pointed to it. "What's that?" He asked. Cyndaquil looked at where he was pointing. He moved aside so they could see the object properly. It was a pokeball. An open pokeball. Someone had left it there. Or, maybe… it was completely possible… that someone might had thrown it away. Joe and Winter turned to each other again, giving the same worried and sad face to each other. "Is this yours?" Joe asked the cyndaquil, tapping the pokeball with his index finger. Cyndaquil bowed his head despairingly in a nod.

"Quil." It confirmed. Joe looked suddenly a mixture of sad and angry.

"That… that…!" He tried to find the right word to describe what this trainer was, but couldn't (because this is a PG13 story). Winter put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him. "Does he have no respect or care for anything close to him? How could he willingly push away his own pokémon? Why would he even do it? How could it possibly benefit him?"

"I wouldn't know." Winter told him simply. "But we should be grateful that we found it in time. Imagine what would have happened to it if we hadn't found it here?" Joe tried not to. It was to distressing. He nodded hopefully.

"Yeah." He agreed. "At least he's okay." He reached a hand out and was surprised when Cyndaquil not only let him stroke it but also leaned in and grabbed his wrist to bull him closer. "Hey, you're an excitable little fellow, aren't you." Joe smiled, stroking the now quite happy cyndaquil down its spine and tickling its chin. Cyndaquil chuckled and spewed a small flame. Joe pulled his hand back just in time, just catching the tip of his jacket on the flame. The fire was easy to put out.

"I think he quite liked that." Winter chuckled. Joe smiled back.

"I think he did, too." He agreed. Cyndaquil smiled back at them. Then it suddenly spun around and began pushing its pokeball forwards, into Joe's hand. It lifted it up with its two front hands and dropped the ball into Joe's palm, looking up hopefully into his face. Joe looked down at the pokeball in mild confusion. It didn't take him long to realise what it was suggesting. "You want me to take you in?" He asked. Cyndaquil nodded hopefully. Joe looked away, giving a face to the air. "Why am _I_ always the one pokémon come to for help?" He thought to himself. "This is the second pokémon since I've been here and the fifth since I've been a trainer. I guess I just seem trustworthy enough to them." He sighed and nodded, gripping the pokeball in his hands. "Alright." He agreed. "You can come with me. At least till we find your trainer and hand you back to him." Cyndaquil shook his violently. "Okay, I'll take you with me full time." Joe corrected himself. Winter looked at him.

"Are you sure. That would mean you already have five pokémon and a sixth on the way. Are you sure you're ready to carry that many pokémon yet?" Winter asked him. Joe shrugged.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I." He told her. She shook her head.

"No, not really." She agreed. Cyndaquil jumped about from foot to foot, so happy to have a trainer again.

"Well, come on then." Joe said, standing up and gesturing his pokémon to come over to him. Pippy, Leaf and Mar waddled over quickly as they could, standing around him and by their new team mate. Cyndaquil seemed very happy to be getting to know his new teammates now. "We'd better head of and find the exit, before anything else can happen."

"Yes. That's a good idea!" Winter agreed quickly. Without another word Joe withdrew all four of his pokémon, called Ralph to his side and headed for the road they'd been walking on before, heading for the exit of the tunnel.

…

When they were gone three figures crept out of their hiding place in the shadows. They looked at each other, shocked, embarrassed, annoyed, tired, pestered, grumpy and all around quite scared.

"You see, Frank, this is why we don't try and catch the first zubat we see!" Ruby said to her blob friend. Frank grumbled.

"It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know that they would swarm?" He asked.

"By using your brain that you don't seem to have." Ross suggested. Frank turned to him and pointed at his translucent body.

"Do you see a brain in here?" He asked. Ross didn't answer.

"Also 'It's not my fault' is not a good excuse." Ruby shouted at him. "It is entirely your fault every time! You never think and just rush into stuff and fudge it all up for the rest of us. I swear if you don't stop doing that I'm going to replace you with a shoe! A freaking shoe!" Ross chuckled a little.

"Yeah. At least the shoe would think. They have souls after all. Frank groaned.

"You can't put up with me messing up now and then, but you let him get away with awful jokes?" He protested.

"Look, Frank. If you cannot mess up for the next 24 hours I'll raise your payment by double the amount."

"You don't pay me anything anyway." Frank told her.

"Could you two stop arguing?" Ross asked, annoyed. "I would like to get out of here and heal up my new pokémon if that is possible." Ruby snickered.

"Ross, dusparce aren't good pokémon." She told him. Ross look insulted.

"Yes they are. I caught one and they're extremely rare." He argued.

"That doesn't make them good!" Ruby snapped back.

"Hey, shut up! You'll hurt Duke's feelings. Besides, he's my pokémon and all my pokémon are strong."

"You keep telling yourself that. One day it may come true."

"Can we go please?!" Frank interrupted. The two Team Ace humans looked at him, then sighed.

"Alright." Ruby groaned. "Let's go." The three Aces walked off into the dark, heading the wrong way, down the path that Joe and Winter had come from.


	7. Chapter 7: Little Egg

_**Side note: I'm releasing this chapter a few days earlier as I'm moving house this weekend and won't have time to upload it then. So instead of releasing this chapter on Sunday as I usually do, it's coming out Friday night. You lucky folks! The next one will be out next sunday as usual. I'd also like to say that I'm quite proud of this chapter, as it adds a new little character who's going to change the story around quite a bit. Hope you like him. He's simply adorable!**_

Crystal stomped through the Rocket base, heading for the locker room. Tears still stained her eyes. She'd spent the last few hours locked in her room, trying to get over her meeting with the boss. He had been quite cruel to her. It had brought back memories of her mother, of how cruel she could be, of how constantly strict and unfair she was, of how little attention she paid to her, of how much she missed her. She did her best to wipe away the tears but the red stains they left were a reminding image. As she walked she hid her face from the other grunts, not wanting to seem young or weak in front of them. She was the youngest grunt to join up so far and she stood out like a thread of hay in a stack of needles. After a sped up walk from the dorm rooms she finally reached the rusting red door and pushed it open. To her dismay the locker room was already filling up with grunts, both male and female. It was like walking into a sauna, except a sauna full of nasty, spiteful and malicious bandits who'd willingly rip you apart and there was no exit back into the swimming pool. Crystal wiped her head, swatting away beads of sweat as the heat hit her. Cutting off angry and suspicious glances from the grunts near her she walked in, heading calmly as she could to her own locker, pushing through a crowd of bodies. When she finally reached her locker someone had scrawled poorly spelled graffiti onto it. It read 'Bakstabin Bich!'. Crystal sighed and opened the locker. It swung open with the creaking echo of rusting metal. She winced slightly at it. When it was open she reached inside and grabbed her gloves, hat, equipment and pokeballs, including Azi's ball. She had been instructed to leave her pokémon in her locker before meeting with the boss, just in case she or one of them decided to try anything funny. She hadn't bothered to change out of her rocket uniform after. She'd simply decided to give up any hope on humanity anymore. These people were the worst of it. She decided that sometimes it was better to be a bad human than not a human at all. She closed her locker again and walked out, passing back through the cluster of grunts like water particles through the cracks of a moving, thinking rock.

As she finally got outside again and was able to breathe she quickly realised that she wasn't alone.

"I'm not happy wit' you, girly." A gruff voice announced to her left. Crystal jumped and turned. Baxter was walking towards her, his pudgy hands pressing under each other as he cracked his knuckled and prepared for trouble, making it double. She stepped back and bumped into someone else, suddenly an arm was around her throat and she was being lifted of the floor, another hand grabbing her by the collar and lifting her up.

"Let go of me!" She yelled, kicking and flailing but the arms grabbing her held her still.

"Hold still, miss!" A slightly high pitch yet butch voice by her ear instructed. "Don't struggle or I'll add'r few cuts to yer pretty arms!" Crystal didn't listen. She rammed an elbow into the sticky figure's gut but he didn't react in the slightest, keeping his grip on her. Baxter stepped closer, pulling out a baseball bat from the shadows and patting it in his hands.

"Good job, Gilbert." He said with a slightly mocking grin. He glared at Crystal who was hanging a few inches above the ground, yet still standing higher than he was. "Now I'm gonna teach you notta rat on me ever again." He growled with a disgusting snarl and display of black and yellow rotting teeth. "Der boss gave me hell aft'r you told him I shot dat togi-thing back in der fields. He weren't too happy. Gave me a damn slash, here!" He pulled on his cheek with a fat thumb to show of the new, fresh scar running down it where a pocketknife had been used to open the skin.

"He's not a very forgivin' man, is 'e, Bax." Gilbert garbled in his thick accent. Baxter nodded, somehow understanding what the hell he had said.

"No, Gilbs, he ain't!" He agreed. He swung the bat a little, creating a threatening whoosh with each swing. "If he sees me goin' back in der anytime soon I'm likely ta get der cane!" He said with a fearful tone. "An' not der kind ya get at school. I mean 'is cane! Dat thing crackles lightnin' and does hell to yer brain and yer ass!" Crystal winced at the description. Thank god she hadn't used that on him. It sounded painful.

"It… wasn't… my… fault!" She struggled to explain through Gilbert's surprisingly strong crushing grip. "He… didn't… believe me… either." Baxter roared.

"Rubbish!" He yelled at her. "He said you told 'im everythin'. You broke an' spilled der beans all over der floor." He swung the bat with his wrists, bringing it dangerously close to Crystal's knees. "Now I is gonna teach you that betrayin' Baxter or Baxter's friendz is a very bad ideas!" He pulled the bat back, preparing to swing it at full might.

"No… please… don't!" Crystal struggled in Gilbert's grip, but he didn't even flinch at her kicks. Baxter went to swing the bat.

"Drop that lump of pine, Bax." A voice suddenly said from behind the fat grunt. Baxter stopped mid swing. A nasty snarl appeared through his fat face. He swung around.

"Danning!" He growled, the bat hanging from three fingers and draping along the stone floor. "Get outta here. This isn't yer problem ta get involv'd wit'" Danning stepped out of the shadows, looking blank faced. He wasn't obviously happy or annoyed or pestered, yet he didn't seem calm or collected either. He looked like insanity was about to break free from his mind. The scar down his cheek was still looking painful and his bruises hadn't healed up much, either. He stared at Crystal and Gilbert who was holding her.

"Put the girl down, Bax!" He said simply. Baxter snarled.

"No. What business is she to you? Get lost!" Baxter snarled. Danning glared at him now.

"She's 'business' to me!" He explained. "Now put her down, or I might do something drastic." Baxter stifled a laugh, whereas Gilbert just let his fly out in guffaws.

"Yeah, or what?" Gilbert asked, raising Crystal a little higher up into the air. Danning switched glares between the two of them. His hand reached to his pocket. Baxter followed his movement.

"Hey, Danning, we ain't allowed ter use our mons in here! Boss will get mad!" Baxter warned. Danning didn't show any form of care.

"He's always mad with us." He said simply. Then, suddenly, a pokeball was flying through the air. It landed and popped open, loosening a large, red and black, long four legged, spiked headed, sharp fanged, three foot tall spider pokémon. The spider gurgled and snarled, rearing it's head excitedly. Baxter and Gilbert backed away, still holding Crystal in their grip.

"Danning, what are you doin'?" Gilbert demanded. Danning glared at them.

"Something I should have done a while ago." He turned to his spider. "Ariados, spider web them." The ariados slurped happily and raised its abdomen. Crystal was suddenly dropped to the floor. She collapsed in a surprised pile on the ground as Baxter and Gilbert ran for it. Ariados fired a ray of sticky web at the escaping grunts. The web wrapped around their ankles as they tripped up and fell forwards. They then proceeded to drag themselves away in fear, disappearing further into the base in a half stringed up cluster. Crystal slimed as they crawled away.

"That's right, run you cowards!" She yelled. "Or rather crawl away." She corrected herself quietly. She turned to see Danning patting his spider pokémon in congratulations.

"Good job, Ariadne." He said. The spider gurgled happily.

"You named your pokémon, too?" Crystal asked. Danning turned to her again. Suddenly he was walking towards her with speed. He reached out an arm, grabbed her by the collar and dragged her onto her feet. "Hey, what are you…?" She tried to ask. Danning threw her forwards and onto her legs again, where he grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her sternly in the eyes.

"What did you tell the boss?" He demanded. Crystal looked befuddled.

"What?" She asked, confused. Danning shook her.

"What! Did you tell! The boss?!" He shouted in her face.

"I don't understand what you mean?" Crystal shouted back.

"What did you tell him about the mission? What did you say to him?" He continued to demand, now stopping shaking her but looking on the verge of doing something worse.

"I don't know." Crystal said, frightened. "I just told him what happened. That Baxter shot the pokémon we were stealing from rather than subdued it. That he did it by himself." She gulped, tears running down her eyes now. "Why did you tell him that I was the cause of the problem? Why did you say I distracted Baxter which made him shoot the… the…?" She gulped down her tears with a jug full of heart-breaking betrayal." Danning looked stunned.

"When did I say that?" He asked. Crystal looked at him, not ready to believe he wasn't guilty.

"The Leader said you'd told him I was responsible. He said that you told him I tried to take the gun from him." She broke down into tears. Danning continued to stare at her.

"I said nothing like that." He explained. "Why would I rat on a child?" Crystal wiped her eyes and looked at the grunt.

"You… didn't say anything like that?" She asked. Danning shook his head.

"No."

"Oh. Um..." Crystal fumbled with her uniform, quite embarrassed. "I… I didn't know… He made it seem so true." Danning crossed his arms.

"That's what he does." Danning said. "He twists facts to make us fight and therefor make us more determined and violent. It's a strange tactic he has for keeping chaos amongst us. Sadly it works." Crystal looked disgusted.

"That's just rotten."

"Tell me about it."

There was a small pause. Ariados walked up to her owner and reared up, rubbing her flat head on his open hand. Danning looked down at her, stroking his pokémon behind the head.

"What do you think he told Baxter and Gilbert to make them so mad?" She asked. Danning looked at her through the corner of his eye.

"The truth, I imagine." He told her. "That would work for them."

There was another small pause.

"So what did he say to you?" She asked. Danning suddenly looked cold and unnerved. He looked at her.

"Oh, um, he… he didn't really say anything." He lied through his teeth. "He just… kind of got angry. He happened to have a knife lying around." He suddenly looked a little embarrassed and apologetic. "I ran at you just then to make sure you hadn't said anything stupid." He told her. "Fortunately you hadn't. That was smart of you. I'm sorry if… you know, scared you or anything." Crystal smiled.

"It's okay." She said. "I forgive you." Danning smiled back.

"Thanks." He said. Suddenly an alarm bell rang through the base. A rush of grunts bled out through the locker room doorway, heading to the jeeps and lorries in their groups. "Another mission's beginning." Danning told her. "I've got to go. I'm wanted near Azalea town for one of the missions." He withdrew Ariados before she could be spotted by one of the passing grunts. "You should get so rest till you're wanted. I imagine you'll be called to a mission at some point." He told Crystal. She nodded in agreement.

"Okay" She turned to head back to her dorm room. As she walked away she turned back to Danning and smiled. "Thank you, Danning." She called. "Good luck." Danning waved back.

"To you too, kid." He called. Crystal smiled and hurried away. Danning watched her go, smiling to himself. She reminded him so much of his own child. Of his own girlfriend even. She had so much spirit, it was almost admirable. It made him wonder why she would want to join a group like Team Rocket. Quickly removing his smile Danning turned and ran with the other grunts, heading to his own jeep and getting on board. Once it was full his vehicle started up and drove off, heading south towards Azalea.

* * *

Joe's eyes fluttered open to the sound of rain. He'd fallen asleep. Much against his wishes, he'd been forced to stop due to pure exhaustion. Thankfully he, Winter and Ralph had found a small indent in the cavern wall which was just large enough for them to sit in and had taken up rest in there. They weren't too far from the cave exit by this point but because it was still a few hours till daybreak and there was still a walk to Azalea town they had decided that time between was best spent getting more rest. Now it was dawn and there was rain outside the cave. Joe stretched in his corner of cave, being mildly careful not to hit Winter or Ralph as they slept. He crawled out of the crevice which they had slept in and stood up properly, stretching his back and looing out into the awakening day. The field ahead of his was small but colourful. Woodland surrounded it like the circumference of the world, shrouding it in a lonely look. Joe rubbed his eyes of sleep and yawned loudly. Once he found he was at least partially awake again he reached back into the crevice and pulled out his bag and pokeball belt, placing them back onto the appropriate parts of his body. Once he'd done that he simply waited for his friends to wake up. Winter stirred a little later and when she finally got up she did practically the same routine he had done before noticing he was standing near her and jumping out of her skin. Ralph decided to take a little longer. So Joe picked him up, shook him awake, nearly got a bite on the arm for doing so, then they continued on out into the day and the wet.

Route 33 was surprisingly a short walk, which came as a relief because the previous two routes had been excruciatingly long in places. Though Joe had to admit he was disappointed that all it was was a smaller field with woodland around it. It's as if someone had just come along and said 'Meh, I can't be bothered to put anything in this field. Let's just make it a route.' The rain fell down in its light shower, pitter pattering over the field and over the two human children and one slightly miffed crobat. Joe and Winter enjoyed the rain for what it was, glad to be given some cold, wet air to breath, rather than stuffy hot air that the region was suffering from at the moment. Ralph was less happy about it. For one thing he didn't have a way of stopping it hit him. He also had to block it out of his large eyes and ears as he couldn't block them from the rain either. Even with the rain they had to admit that this one route was very pretty in its natural look. Even though there wasn't a heavy number of flowers or wildlife around, the rain seemed to make it stand out a little. It caused the grass to glisten in the light as it shimmered through the caught raindrops, and the trees gave it an almost isolated feel. It was quite unique in that respect. They didn't spend long judging this place on its look, the group continued onwards, till they eventually reached a path road again and followed it. A sign near the start of the road said 'Azalea town: 1K west'

"We should be there soon then." Winter smiled to her friends. "About twenty minutes or so at this speed. Come on." They continued the walk up the road towards Azalea town.

After a few minutes or so they Joe suddenly stopped as something lightly hit him in the spine. He stumbled for a second but remained on his feet. Winter looked at him.

"What's wrong? She ask. Joe looked to her and, to her surprise, she saw he was smiling. A bright grin crossed his face.

"It just kicked." He muttered. Winter looked at him again.

"What?" She asked.

"The Egg." Joe explained slowly. "It's moving." He quickly slid of his bag and pulled out the multicolour-spotted egg. He held it in his hand in front of his face, holding it out like the christening of a baby lion by a monkey. The shell was beginning to crack, but slowly. It wasn't ready to break just yet but it was getting close.

"Can't be long now." Winter told him. "Maybe a few hours till." Joe was almost giggling.

"That would be pure awesome." He told her. This earned him a stare from his best friend.

"Don't you think we should try and make it to Azalea town before then?" Winter reminded him. Joe looked up from the egg he had been cooing over.

"Oh, yeah, good idea." He said slowly. He put the egg gently back into his bag and zipped it up, standing back to his feet and continuing along the path towards Azalea.

"You're getting way too excited over this egg." Winter told him. Joe looked at her.

"I'm just curious as to what it'll hatch into." He said simply.

"Well couldn't you be both interested and quiet?" She asked. Joe got the message. He slumped his head a little.

"Buzzkill." He muttered unkindly. Suddenly Winter had a hand on his shoulder.

"Get down!" She whispered and pulled him into the grass under the threes. Ralph darted in with them, lying low on the ground. Joe tried to protest but she put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Hei, hhua hou ooih?" He demanded. She shushed him sternly.

"Be quiet!" She hissed. Joe gave her a confused look. She pointed ahead of the path they had been on. "Look!" She told him. Joe followed where she was pointing. Then he saw why she had pushed him into the bushes. On the road ahead was a small group of Team Rocket Grunts, seemingly marching somewhere. Joe growled.

"Okay, now I see why we're in here." He told her. "What are they doing here?"

"Probably the same thing they do everywhere else." Winter told him with a mocking voice.

"This isn't a time to be sarcastic." Joe told her. "We should stop them before they do whatever they're planning to do." He said with a stern, angry voice. Winter shrugged.

"Then what?" She asked. "We don't know what they're planning. We don't even know where they're going. How are we meant to stop that?" Joe didn't know how the answer.

"Could I have another question please?" He joked. Winter slapped him. Then, to their surprise, another person came running after the Rockets. This person was an elderly man, with longing white hair on the side of his head and wearing a neat blue robe. He quickly strolled up to the Rockets, shouted something rude and uncivilized and stepped in front of them, holding his arms out and continuing to shout some more. Joe and Winter were amazed by what they were seeing.

"What am I watching?" Winter asked, confused.

"I never thought I'd ever see the day that an elderly man stood up to tea rocket like this." Joe said, surprised. "He's still shouting at them!" He muttered, quite stunned.

Indeed the man was still shouting and it was clear, even from the distance they were at, that the rocket grunts were getting annoyed by him. Finally one of them, a grunt with surprisingly pointy long steel grey hair pushed him aside with a heavy shove. The man fell to the side, glaring at them furiously. The next second he was speed walking in front of them again, blocking their path yet again.

"The guys got guts." Winter muttered, quite stunned by this displace of thoughtless courage.

"I don't think he'll have them for long." Joe told her. "He's an old man and he's messing with Team Rocket. This can only go one way."

Sure enough that was exactly what happened. The same grunt that had pushed him aside before stepped up in front again, looking the man in the face. The man shoved the grunt in the chest, knocking him back a little. The grunt continued to glair. Then, suddenly, his hand was gripping the old man's collar and he was dragging him along, much to the man's angry shouts. The grunts followed as they walked away, heading down the short route away from Azalea.

"Where are they going?" Joe wondered. Once the rockets were all gone they stepped out of the grass and onto the road. They quickly made their way to the junction at the top where the confrontation had just happened. There was a sign here, too. This sign pointed three way however. One was the way they had come and it read 'Route 33 and Union Cave: 2 Miles'. Another pointed west and read 'Azalea Town: ½ Kilometre.' The third sign pointed east and read 'Slowpoke Well: 20 Metres.'

"They're heading to the well?" Joe asked himself mostly. "What would they want there?"

"Well, it's a well of slowpoke, a slow and dumb pokémon, so maybe they're looking for something smarter than themselves?" Winter's joke went without a laugh. "They're probably after more pokémon." She said, saddened by the lack of a laugh. Joe clenched his fists.

"Then we should go after them." He said, and ran down the east path.

"Hey, wait for us." Winter protested, following after him. Ralph rolled his eyes before following too.

Joe ran on until he could see the grunts ahead, at which point he stopped and followed quietly further behind. Winter and Ralph caught up and joined him, watching as they dragged the still angry, still shouting man with. They walked up a small hillside, where, on top of it, was a small stone well. It looked old, cracked and mossy but still able to stand somehow without chipping or breaking with the slightest touch. The grunts walked up to the well, stopped around it and looked back at the grunt dragging the protesting old man. He brought him to the front, holding him by the collar. Then, to their surprise, he let go of the man, pushed him forwards and knocked hi, still shouting, down the well. Joe and winter gasped.

"Oh my goodness!" Winter exclaimed. There was a short pause. "Do you think he'll be okay?" She asked. Joe just shrugged.

"I don't know." He said honestly. The grunts were doing something else now. One of them had tied a string of rope to the wooden roof of the well and one by one they were climbing down it.

"Why are they going down into it?" Winter asked. Joe again shrugged.

"Winter, how am I supposed to know?" He asked. Winter looked away, hurt.

"I was just wondering." She muttered feebly. They watched as the last grunt disappeared down the well.

"We should go after them." Joe decided. Before he could get a response from Winter he ran off, heading up the hillside and towards the now vacant well. With a short huffing run he was at the top, waiting now for his two friends. Ralph was there a few seconds after. Winter took a little longer. When she did finally catch up she was already looking exhausted from running up the hill and slightly annoyed that he'd run of without her again.

"Do you think you could possibly… well, think before you run off like that?" She asked him, tired out by running. Joe looked at her.

"Do you want to stop Team Rocket or not?" He asked back, sounding angry now.

"That's not what I was asking…" Winter tried to tell him, but he wasn't listening. Joe placed a leg over the stone wall of the well and grabbed hold of the rope.

"You don't have to follow me you know." He spoke with an unkind tone in his voice. "I can deal with them myself. If you're too scared then you should go and reach Azalea town and get your pokémon fixed up. But I'm not backing out!" He kicked away from the wall and then he was sliding down the rope, legs crossed and arms wrapped, disappearing into the well.

"Joe, wait!" Winter called, but by the time she'd said it he'd vanished into the darkness. She sighed. "He never ever thinks!" She cursed him. She turned to Ralph who was looking just as confused. "Well go on! Go after him!" She snapped. The crobat looked a little hurt by her tone. He swooped over and dived into the well as a quick purple missile, missing the stone wall around completely as his four wings tucked in. Winter rolled her eyes and climbed in herself.

She couldn't understand what it was about Joe that had become so stubborn recently. He had always been quite stubborn but most of the time he'd been thinking about what he did before he did it. Now he was just charging in head first, not thinking about the possibilities or the dangers. He had done the same thing on route 30 when they'd found the rockets and the mother Togetic. He had nearly run at them before one of them got fidgety and fired his gun. If he hadn't got down quick enough he'd have been hit by the gunfire, then where would he be? Bleeding out in the field most likely. She tried to remind herself that he'd been through a lot already. Their last adventure had been a tough one that most trainers wouldn't experience. It all went back to the events of Lavender Town. After one of his pokémon had been killed, he'd changed a little. He didn't seem to want to show any weak emotions to anyone, not even to his closest friends. She didn't know what to do to help. She had experienced grief, too, but not like this. She had never gotten so angry or so hate filled. Maybe it was because, unlike her, Joe had something to blame his pain on.

She slid down the rope, careful to keep her skin away from it for fear of burns. When she did reach the bottom she found herself standing in a small wet yet quite parched cave entrance. This was supposedly the underground stream where the well got its water. It clearly dried up here a while ago, but there were still a few small puddles of water around the area. No pokémon, however. There were no pokémon anywhere to be seen. That surprised her. This place was called Slowpoke Well after all. She quickly realised that Joe and Ralph were still in the room, kneeling down a few feet away and with them was the old man from before. He looked in a bit of pain, but as he spoke she could tell that he was still angry and still strong spirited.

"Damn Rockets have pushed their luck this time!" He yelled loudly in a voice that sounded younger then he looked. He tried to stand but buckled under his weight as his right leg couldn't take it anymore. He fell over and Joe caught him and just about managed to hold him up. Winter rushed over immediately, grabbing the old man's over arm and helping Joe stand him up.

"You took your time." Joe told her. Winter glared at him.

"Not now." She muttered. The old man nearly fell again but fortunately Joe acted quick enough to stop him falling backwards.

"Take it easy." He told him. "What were you doing trying to stop the Rockets anyway?" He asked. The old man huffed. He grumbled a little with anger.

"Err, they've been pestering me for a while." He explained. "You see I make unique pokeballs out of these little fruits called apricorns. The rockets wanted me to make them some, but I declined, quite obviously. I'm prepared to make pokeballs for trainers, even the bad ones, but criminals is where I draw the line. Obviously they weren't too happy about that. They've been coming back and demanding pokeballs for the last few days or so. Every time they came I declined, not very politely. And now they're moving on and trying to directly steal wild pokémon. I decided that this is something I won't sit around and let them do. The pokémon down here are peaceful and rarely disturbed. They don't have any right to do to them what they are going to do."

"Do you know what they do want with the pokémon down here?" Winter asked. The old man grumbled and rubbed his head.

"You know, I've forgotten what it was, but it was really cruel and absolutely inhumane. Something to do with the slowpoke's here."

"It's ok." Joe told him. "Either way we're going to stop them."

"Joe just hold on a second." Winter told him. "We can't just run in. We don't even know what we're dealing with. What if they have guns or superiorly powerful pokémon? We should be careful here." Joe looked at her, annoyed by the comment. Then he sighed.

"Ok, you're right." He agreed. "We shouldn't just rush in." Winter nodded.

"Good." She told him. The old man looked at them.

"Help sit me down, please." He asked. Joe and Winter lowered him down against the stone wall, where the old man lay his legs out and rested them. "Thank you." He said. "What are your names?" Winter gestured her hand.

"My names Winter, and my friend here is called Joe." She told him. The man bowed his head.

"My name's Kurt." He explained. "I'd love to help you kids but I don't think I can actually do anything with this leg. Besides I don't own any pokémon so a pokémon battle would be pointless." He bowed his head. "So it looks like it's up to you two,…" He glanced at Ralph. "And your crobat, to stop them." Joe nodded to him.

"Well, thanks I guess." Joe muttered. "Is there anything helpful you could tell us?" Kurt nodded.

"Actually there is one thing." He told them. They listened closely. "That rocket grunt with the grey pointy hair. He's some kind of administrator or commander or whatever they call him. It's likely he'll have strong, tough pokémon. I wanted to tell you that so it would be easier for you to be cautious around him." Then Kurt shut up. Joe and Winter looked at each other.

"Uh, thanks." Winter told him, not successfully managing to hide her disappointment. "That's very, uh, helpful of you." Kurt smiled.

"Don't mention it." He pointed his hand towards a large hole in the cave wall. Through it they could see move cave and more stream. "The rockets went through there only a minute ago. If you hurry you could stop them before they do anything." Joe bowed his head in thanks.

"Thank you very much." He said. Then he was standing by the cave entrance, looking in after having run over there. Winter bowed, too.

"I hope you can get out ok." She asked. Kurt waved a disbanding hand.

"Oh don't worry." He told her. "I've had worse done to me and I still took care of myself. I'll be able to get out fine. Winter bowed then ran over and joined Joe by the cave entrance. Through the hole they could hear commands and shouting from one of the grunts. There was a lot of moving about and occasionally the command of a pokémon. They were doing something definitely. Joe peered his head round, being careful not to be seen.

"What are they doing?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"I can't tell." He whispered. "I can't see them past all the rocks." He looked at her. "We may need to sneak closer."

"Ok. Just be careful." Winter told him. Don't knock any rocks or anything like that. We don't want to be seen. Joe nodded.

"No. We don't." He agreed. This reminded him a little of the first time they'd run into the Rockets. It had been in Mt Moon after he'd beaten the Pewter City gym leaders. He had woken up in the cave to find the rockets had caught his friends, including Ralph and his solution had been trying to fight them off with a new and young bulbasaur. The result was plain embarrassing thinking back to it all. Fortunately they'd been able to escape thanks to some helpful local sandshrew. "Alright, I'm going to sneak up. Follow close." He told his friends. Winter and Ralph nodded quietly.

"Ok." She said. Joe creeped forwards, crouching down low to stay out of sight as he snuck into the larger cavern. This part of the well was also cut off, but was bigger than the entrance by at least four times the size and had a fresher and more expanded amount of water in it. Still, however, it looked parched and nowhere near as full as a well should be. It was clear the entire place had dried out a while ago. Joe crept forwards and quickly hid behind a tall rock as a grunt turn and looked at where he'd come from. When the grunt looked away Winter and Ralph joined him quickly, making little sound as they moved. Three sets of eyes peered over the rock. They saw at the end of the cavern, which wasn't too far away mind, a tall, grey, arrow shaped haired grunt with white gloves standing around a cluster of snoozing, snoring, grumbling and yawning slowpoke. He was talking to a couple of other grunts while the remaining three patrolled the area and kept an eye out for anyone supposedly trying to stop them. Fortunately they weren't doing a very good job at it.

"Can you hear what he's saying?" Winter asked. Joe shook his head.

"No. Not very well." He told her. "We may need to get closer." They snuck out and crept up behind a closer rock while no one was looking in their direction. Now they could hear what this higher up grunt was saying. Joe and Winter strained their ears to hear his voice.

"What about this do you not seem to understand?" He was asking. One of the two grunts looked bashfully at his leader.

"Well, you see…" He tried to say. "I don't think I understand why we'd want these pokémon." He said, trying to seem confident. "I mean, look at them. They're lazy. What good would they be to us?" The commander grunt look at his men.

"Did you not listen to my instructions?" He asked coldly. "We're not here to catch the pokémon or to steal them. We're here for their tails." The grunt scratched his head.

"Yeah, that's the bit I don't understand." He spoke up. "What use are their tails to us?"

"I wouldn't ask so many questions." The second grunt warned him. "It doesn't usually end that well for those who do." The commander grunt clapped his hand.

"You see. Danning had the right idea. He knows what he's doing, don't you." The second grunt nodded slightly. "Now get harvesting!"

"How are we meant to even… you know… get the tails?" The first grunt asked. The second grunt sighed disappointedly. The commander glared at his men. He reached down and grabbed one of the lazy slowpoke's by the tail, lifting it into the air and hanging it from his arm.

"Like this." He told them. The commander suddenly pulled out a sharp serrated knife from his suit, raised it up, placed it against the tail, swung it, and then…

"God!" Winter exclaimed quietly, gagging and holding her mouth. Joe nearly did the same while Ralph just watched in shocked fascination.

"That's just cruel!" Joe muttered, nearly throwing up. There hadn't been any blood. In fact there had been almost nothing. The tail had come away easily, leaving no cut marks or scars or anything that showed a sign of it originally being there. It was almost as if it detached away rather than was cut away. Clearly it was some kind of natural survival technique for the slowpoke, allowing the predator a snack while the creature itself got away safely, yet tailless. That didn't stop it being cruel of disgusting though. The commander grunt held the tail up in front of his men. The slowpoke the tail had originally been owned by landed on the ground and went back to sleep, none the wiser.

"That is how you obtain a Slowpoke's tail." He said finally, holding the tail by the tip. "Now Get Harvesting!" He yelled. His grunts saluted and sped off, gathering all the slowpoke up around their leader and clumping them together so they could be harvested for their tails with little effort.

Joe and Winter sunk back behind the rock.

"That's…" Joe muttered. "That's just wrong." He sounded completely disgusted. "Why would anyone want to steal Slowpoke tails? What's the point?"

"As disgusting as it is…" Winter explained. "There are people out there who use their tails in recipes." Joe looked at her astounded.

"What? Why?" He asked. Winter shrugged.

"It's a posh meal. Slowpoke Tail Soup. Some people think it's nutritious. Other's think it works like a medicine for certain ailments. Either way it's completely cruel, yet they do it under the impression that Slowpoke don't need their tails." Joe looked a little, a let revolted now.

"Well if they don't actually need their tails how is it that bad?" He asked.

"Well, physically they don't need their tails to swim or move, their legs do that just fine without it." She paused, looking quite disgusted herself. "But without their tails they can't evolve. If they lose their tail they're forced to remain a slowpoke for the rest of their lives. Imagine if you were a slowpoke who was one day looking forward to becoming a slowbro, then some rich guy comes along and slices of your tail, stopping you from catching a shelder with it, how would you feel?" Joe could see her point.

"I'd be pretty miffed." He agreed. Ralph growled. To him the idea of being forced to remain the same was like being cursed with idiocy, something he imagined that these grunts probably suffered from themselves. He growled quietly. Joe heard him and panicked a little. "Ralph, don't!" He warned. Ralph fell quiet again, just as the closest grunt heard the low sound.

"Huh?" He wandered. They heard footsteps getting closer. The three characters froze behind their rock as the grunt got closer. His footsteps echoed around the cave. Then they stopped. Joe peeked around carefully. He saw the grunt was only a few inches away, looking around suspiciously. "Who's there?" He called out. His voice echoed around the cave. Joe, Winter and Ralph all held their breath and waited. Finally the grunt gave up and turned around, muttering "Huh, must've been my imagination." His footsteps got further away. The group sighed.

"That was too close." Joe muttered, grateful to remain unseen. "So what do we do?" He asked.

"We should stop them before they harm any more slowpoke." Winter told him. "It's bad enough they've already harmed one, we can't let them do it to anymore."

Joe nodded in agreement. "Definitely." He said. "But how?" He looked out from behind the rock and took notes on where everything was. There was a grunt by the stream, a grunt near a jagged area of rocks and a grunt near them. The remaining three grunts were near the end, standing on a raised area and surrounded by slowpokes. He looked up at the roof. Among the stalactites was a cluster of snoozing zubats, hanging under the far right corner near the water. A possible idea cropped up into Joe's mind. He shrunk back behind the wall. "I think I have an idea." He told his friends. They looked at him hopefully.

"Well, what?" Winter asked.

"I think we could possibly take out most of the basic grunts without needing to fight them, but it's a little risky." He told them. "Fortunately for us I don't see any weapons on them, so I think we're safe in that area, but some of them have pokeballs, so we may need to fight that way." He paused for breath. "If we could somehow get the grunts under the zubats above and wake them up, they may attack the grunts, distracting them long enough for us to take them out. Maybe if I get Pippy to paralyse them while they're fighting of the bats." Winter nodded, seeing where he was going with this.

"And while they're out the two of us take out their commander there." Joe nodded.

"Yes. We just need to find something to get them over there." He reached around in the mild dark and found a rock. He gripped it in his hands. "This should do." He looked at Winter. "Are you ready?" He asked her. Winter nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She told him.

"Good enough." Joe gripped the rock and threw it over. The small piece of earth rotated through the air and landed in the stream, creating a small splash. All six of the grunts turned to look at it.

"What was that?" One of them shouted.

"There's something in the water." Another said. Suddenly all of them were hurrying over, searching for whatever had made that movement. Only two of them didn't move. One of them was the commander, the other was the second grunt he had been talking to. Now was Joe and Winter's chance to move up and do something. They creeped quickly and as quietly as the could behind a much closer rock wall before Joe quietly released his faithful pikachu.

"Pippy, could you disturb those zubat above for us?" Joe asked, pointing subtly up at the roof. Pippy followed his gaze and nodded. He fired a small and almost invisible bolt of electric static, up, striking the rock roof beside several bats. The zubat suddenly scattered and flew of the rock, swarming and attacking the nearest things to them, the rocket grunts. There were several screams of fear as the bats swarmed the men, flocking and biting and slashing at them in anger for being woken up. They tried to run but the bats followed after them.

"Where are you going?" The white detailed grunt yelled, furious. His men ignored him, instead running along the stream and jumping in, trying to escape the bats. The zubats swarmed above the water, waiting patiently.

"Now, Pippy, give them a nasty shock." Joe whispered. Pippy nodded, a small cheeky smile on his face. He hopped up the rocks, aimed at the stream that the grunts were splashing in and fired a weak yet potent electric spark. The small bolt of static hit and skittered across the water, striking everything in it and around it. The grunts suddenly fell as still as buoyant statues as the static paralysed them into place. Fortunately they were all lying face up so they could at least still breathe and Joe hadn't just committed a mass drowning. The bats scattered, not wanting to have the same fate befall them. The two remaining rockets turned and saw the excited pikachu sitting on the rocks.

"What the?" The commander asked, angry and confused. Suddenly something large, purple and bat shaped appeared beside it. Then two figures rose out from behind the rock. The commander growled. "You trainers are meddling with the wrong criminals." He warned, gritting his teeth. "Don't think that just because you outsmarted my men means you can stop me or what we're doing here."

"We're giving you one chance." Joe said back, not sounding sympathetic in the slightest. "Either stop what you're doing and turn yourselves in, or get the crap beaten out of you by my friend here." He gestured to Ralph who was cracking his wings aggressively. The commander scoffed.

"You think that purely asking will make me reconsider?" He asked, chortling at the idea. "Who do you even think you are?" Joe stood stern.

"Joseph Glende." He said simply. The commander froze. He looked at this boy who was confronting him.

"You're the kid that nearly defeated our leader over a month ago?" He asked, surprised. "You! You're the one who's been fighting against Team Rocket all this time." Joe nodded. The commander took a step back. "Danning, take this child down, now!" The one remaining grunt stepped forwards, gripping a pokeball suddenly.

"I'll deal with the grunt." Winter told Joe. You go after the commander before he can do anything else."

"Ok." Joe agreed. "Good luck!"

"You too." The two trainers split up. Joe ran up a small rocky cliff while Winter stepped out and confronted the grunt.

"Look, just leave now and I promise we won't harm you." The grunt tried to persuade her but Winter wasn't buying it.

"Not likely. I've met you lot. You'd shoot me in the back if I turned around even for a second." The grunt seemed to shift in his skin.

"I like to think that some of us are more honourable then that."

"Ha. Rockets. Honourable? That would never happen." Winter said spitefully.

"Alright." The grunt muttered, resigned to fighting, even though he clearly didn't want to. "If you won't go by yourself I'll have to defeat you now." He reached for a pokeball. "Go Ariados!" He threw the pokeball and released a large red spider pokémon onto the field. It gurgled excitedly. Winter reached for her own pokeball.

"Go Zephyr." She called. She threw her pokeball and released the proud pidgeotto from his carrier. He flapped his wings and cawed. The ariados suddenly looked quite worried.

"Poison Sting!" The Grunt yelled. Ariados fired a small poisonous dart from its head spike at the flying bird.

"Evade!" Winter called. Zephyr flew to the right with a flap of its wings, avoiding the attack with ease. "Now, use gust!" Winter called. Zephyr flapped his wings, creating a strong thrust of air. The attack hit ariados and dragged it back across the cave floor till it reached its trainer's legs.

"Wrap it up in spider's web!" The Grunt yelled. Ariados raised its abdomen and fired a huge net of silk. The web caught Zephyr head on and wrapped him up in a cocoon.

"No, Zephyr. Bite free." Winter instructed. Zephyr struggled in his encasing silk web, moving his wings about and biting hard of the strong silk. Ariados crawled over, clicking excitedly. It tapped him with a fuzzy leg. Zephyr squawked at it.

"Leech Life!" The grunt instructed. Ariados raised its fangs, preparing to bite into the pidgeotto.

"Wing Attack!" Winter instructed. Zephyr rubbed his wing tip against the silk as Ariados swung its head down to attack. Suddenly Zephyr was free, his wing slicing through the silk and striking Ariados in the side of the head, knocking it aside before it could land the attack. "Now, use Whirlwind!" Winter continued. Zephyr flew up high into the air again and flapped his wings quickly and powerfully. The rush he created was strong enough not only to send Ariados flying backwards but also its trainer. Both in and the grunt collapse against the rock wall, exhausted and off balance.

Joe meanwhile had reached the commander who was trying to take more Slowpoke tails and was confronting him on top of a rocky peak.

"Hey, you! Stop!" Joe yelled as he reached the commander. This new commander stopped, dropped the slowpoke he had just been about to steal the tail of and turned to face the trainer.

"Our leader warned us you may show up at some point." He told him, speaking proudly yet also fiercely. "He spoke of you as a pest. He said you never gave up in trying to foil him, even when you were about to die." He growled. "I can see he was not lying." He snarled at him now. "Last time the commanders you faced were old and weak. But now we have better commanders. Stronger Commanders. And I'm one of them." He pulled out a pokeball. "So let's see how good at this you really are." He threw it. Out of the ball was released a fat, floating purple koffing. The large ball of gas levitated on its horrible methane excrement as it edged up and prepared to fight. Joe narrowed his eyes.

"Alright. You want a fight? You got one." He pulled out his own pokeball. "Go Quill." He threw the ball and released his newly rescued Cyndaquil onto the field. During the night he had decided, with cyndaquil, what he was to be named. It had taken them a little while but in the end they both decided that they liked the name Quill, as it suited every evolutionary stage name that cyndaquil had. Thus Quill became an honorary member of his team. The commander grunted.

"A mere Cyndaquil." He muttered. "Really? That's the best you have?" Joe glared at him.

"I wouldn't let first impressions tell you everything." He told him. Behind him, unbeknown to the trainer, his bag began to move. The egg inside was shifting. Small cracking sounds came from within. Joe pointed a hand. "Quill, use ember!"

"Koffing, use smog!" The two pokémon made their attacks. Koffing released a ball of noxious gas in Quill's direction. Quill spat a small ember of flame at the floating Koffing. Both attacks met in the middle and exploded in a massive ball of fire, before extinguishing a second later. "Tackle it!" The commander yelled again.

"Smokescreen!" Joe instructed. Quill released a thick plume of smoke from his mouth which engulfed the Koffing as it flew in to attack. The large ball of purple spun around in the air, trying to find a way out. While it was doing this Quill took in a deep breath, ready to use its next attack.

"Smog it!" The commander yelled. Koffing began pumping out purple noxious gas from the holes in its body.

"Now!" Joe instructed. The egg kicked. The bag shook. Quill yelled and fired a larger ember of flame. The flicker of fire flew forward and through the now purplizing smoke. Then…

'BOOM!' The explosion knocked them all back. Joe nearly fell over before Ralph caught him. As he did so he heard something small and weak yelp from inside his bag. Ralph looked at the opening, surprised yet confused. Before he could do anything else Joe was back onto his feet walking back to the battle and reach Quill again.

"Good job, buddy." He praised his pokémon. Quill smiled up at him happily. The commander was getting back up now. His koffing was lying defeated in the now wafting away smoke. The commander looked at it and growled.

"Okay. I give you that I took you lightly. I didn't expect you to defeat koffing that quickly." He clenched a fist and reached for his second pokeball. "But he was a weakling in comparison to my main partner." He grabbed the pokeball. Before he could release it Joe pulled out Quill's pokeball and withdrew his cyndaquil friend.

"I think you'll want to sit this one out." Joe told him, suspecting that the commander's second pokémon would be stronger. The commander threw the pokeball.

"Go, Golbat!" He yelled. The pokeball opened and before anyone could blink a large purple golbat was flying out, already aiming to attack. It sped at Joe, wings out and sharp.

"Ralph!" Joe yelled, surprise and mild fear in his command. Ralph lashed out, blocking Golbat's attack with his own wing. The two pokémon hovered in front of each other, wings locked in combat. Their yellow eyes met and they glared at each other. Ralph growled. Golbat growled back. Ralph pushed it away with a powerful shove from his wings. Golbat spun around and flew in for another attack.

"Bite it!" The commander called.

"Steel Wing!" Joe instructed. Ralph steeled his wing, his skin shimmering with metal. Golbat flew in with its jaws wide. Ralph swung his attack. Golbat bit down as it reached him. The two attacks connected. When it was over Ralph was still floating unharmed. Golbat however was flying backwards, grabbing at its jaw as its teeth shook and ached in their gums.

Meanwhile Winter had nearly finished with the rocket grunt. He was down to his last pokémon now, a small fire dog with grey bone matter on its body shaped like internal bones, the most eye catching was a skull shape on its forehead. This pokémon was a houndour, the pre-evolution of houndoom, a pokémon which Joe had battled when he'd faced the Rocket Leader in Silph Co tower. The houndour was clearly young because it was quite intimidated by Winter's poliwrath.

"Stream, take it out with body slam!" Winter called. Stream the Poliwrath charged in and rammed the houndour in the face, knocking it back. The small puppy whimpered, faking a wound. Winter knew it was trying to play a trick. "Water gun!" Stream spat a huge blob of water at the vicious dog. The attack hit and it yelped in pain.

"Fight back!" The grunt yelled, desperately. His pokémon growled and charged, going in for a bite.

"Brick Break!" Winter called. Stream rose a flat rigid hand up. Houndour came in to attack. As it reached it, Stream brought his hand down, striking houndour in the spike and knocking it down, unconscious. The grunt gasped and backed away. Stream picked up the houndour.

"You… You defeated me." The grunt muttered, shocked.

"And that's how you defeat a defiant grunt." Winter muttered, slightly cockily. "Now if I were you I'd get out of here and take your friends with you. Stream threw the houndour. It flew through the air and landed on the grunt, knocking him over. He withdrew it and fled, heading with the other grunts who had just woken up, out of the cave and back up the rope. Winter could hear Kurt shout at them from the other room. She chuckled. "Good work, guys." She said, smiling at Stream and Zephyr who were looking quite proud of themselves. Then she noticed the slowpoke were moving, back to the stream where they had been before. They lay down in a herd at the water's edge, drooping their tails in and falling into a lazy dope. All except for one. The one that had had its tail removed. Winter felt sorry for it. She saw it try and hang its tail into the stream, only to find that it no longer had one. She saw the sad look on its dopey face. "Poor thing." She muttered. She walked through the cluster of pink sleepy creature till she reached the still awake and tailless one, the only one that stood out now. She bent down and patted it on the head, sadly. "You're the unlucky one then." She muttered. The tailless slowpoke yawned sadly. Winter looked around at the other slowpoke around them, all snoozing and snoring carefree. This one clearly felt out of place now. It didn't know what to do with itself. It had been removed of its tail by force and not choice, and now it was sad. Winter looked at its face. It seemed to be a rare species. The only slowpoke, possibly in the world, that was actually on some degree of intelligence. "Well, you don't need this lot around you making you feel bad." Winter told it. "I can take you away from them if you want. You could come with me and go traveling. You wouldn't have to worry about men stealing your tail. It doesn't matter if you evolve, you can see that there's still a point." The slowpoke shrugged. Anything was better than sleeping around here. Winter smiled. "Okay then." She pulled out an empty pokeball.

Joe meanwhile was still fighting his battle with the Commander. Ralph and Golbat were still fighting a heavy fight, Golbat slashing away with its wing while Ralph blocked the attacks and landed his own more accurate, much stronger blows. The battle seemed to be stuck at a stalemate for the most part, though. The commander's Golbat was definitely much stronger than his koffing and Ralph was struggling to find a chance to make any attacks. And there was this annoying pain in his back. Something in his bag was sticking into his spine. He might have dislodged something when he fell over. He'd have to look after the battle, he was too focused on winning.

"Fly Ralph!" Joe called. Ralph shot higher into the air, only to find that Golbat followed him up. They both lashed out with their wings and both attacks hit each other, knocking both pokémon backwards.

"Supersonic!" The Commander yelled. His golbat fired a shrieking ring of sound at Ralph but he dodged aside just in time.

"Strike it down!" Joe called. Finally the final blow was made. Ralph flew forwards at high speed and struck the bat in the centre of the chest, knocking it out of the air. Golbat hit the ground defeated. The commander stared at his unconscious pokémon.

"You… really are annoying!" He growled. Joe smiled. To him this was a complement if it came from team Rocket. He wanted them to be annoyed by him. That meant he was doing something right.

"Tell your boss that he's next." He told the commander. "Tell him to watch his back because I will not stop fighting back till he and all Team Rockets are beaten." The commander withdrew his golbat and clenched his fists.

"Oh believe me I will." He hissed. "You may have defeated me, Commander Proton, but soon enough you'll meet the rest of us. Then you'll be wishing you'd never left Kanto." The commander turned on heels and rushed of, back down the cave and out, running after his men. Joe chuckled.

"And stay out!" He shouted after him. Winter reached him again, placing three pokeballs onto her belt.

"You won then?" She took note. Joe nodded.

"Of course." He told her.

"I didn't doubt it for a second." She smiled at him. He looked away, blushing slightly.

"What were you doing over there?" Joe asked, realising that she'd just come from where the slowpoke were. Winter patted her belt.

"I was just giving a now disabled slowpoke a new home." She told him. "It was the least I could do after what the Rockets did to her."

"You give her a nickname?" He asked.

"The best I could come up with was Tailless." She told him. Joe gave her a look.

"That seems mighty cruel." He told her. "I mean that name will constantly remind it of what it hasn't got."

"If you have a better name I'd like to hear it." Winter told him sternly. Joe dropped the conversation. He suddenly remembered the sharp pain in his spine.

"There's something sticking into my back." He told her. "I think something in my bag came loose."

"Take it off then." She told him. He slid the bag of his back, only to find that it had suddenly got a lot heavier. He heaved and placed it on the rock floor. Ralph circled in with them, looking in. As Joe was about to open it something kicked from within, knocking the back about? Joe gasped.

"Movement." He muttered, open eyed. "Something's moving…" He put the pieces together in his head like arranging a jigsaw. When he finally figured it out he stared at Winter who was also looking quite amazed. "The egg." Joe realised. "It must have hatched." He suddenly reached forwards and grabbed the bag opening.

"Joe, be careful." Winter warned him. "We don't know what it is yet. It might flame you or something." Joe looked at her.

"Winter, it's a baby. Even if it is a fire type I doubt it'll know how to make flame yet." He unzipped the bag and reached his arms in, pulling the shattered and cracked egg out. It had been broken open from the inside. Something was moving around inside. A small white foot was sticking out from the bottom. Joe looked at it. Slowly he pealed the top of the egg off. As he did so the pokémon inside broke free. A second foot broke out of the bottom and two small cream hands broke from the sides. At the top a small white face was looking out on a spikey white head poking from the top of the shell. Two small black dot eyes looked out adorably. The little egg pokémon looked at them. They looked back. Then it began to coo.

"Togi." It said. The world suddenly went soft. The two trainers took one look at the small thing and simultaneously went…

"Awww."

"It's so cute!" Joe said, his voice going high pitch and pandering. "Look at its wittle face."

"Guess we should have expected it would hatch into a togepi." Winter muttered. She turned to Joe who looked back, a face of adoring cuteness on his head.

"Winter!" He muttered, excitedly. "It's a baby!" She looked at him and nodded.

"Yes, Joe. It is!" She told him in a patronising voice. He either ignored her or didn't pick up she was mocking him. Instead he turned back to the little togepi and picked it ip. Togepi giggled happily. It grabbed his arm and hugged it, smiling widely.

"Pii!" It exclaimed as it giggle. Joe smiled at it, the biggest smile he had ever given.

"I should name him." He realised. Winter nodded.

"What kind of name though?" Joe smiled again.

"How about something like… Casey." He told her. She looked at him.

"Casey?" She repeated, evidently not liking it as much. "That's a bit obvious isn't it? I mean what if it loses its shell, then what will you call him? Caseless?" Joe looked back at her.

"I was considering Egbert or Sheldon, but if you don't think Casey is a good name…" He told her.

"I actually quite like Sheldon." Winter thought aloud.

"Casey it is then." Joe decided. Winter drooped her shoulders. It was amazing how often she went unheard. She stood up again, wiping her knees dry.

"We should aim to get out of here as soon as possible." She reminded him. "We should take Casey and Tailless to the pokémon centre to get checked up." Joe wasn't paying attention. Winter looked at him. "Joe!"

"Yes!?" Joe said, surprised by her shout and suddenly paying attention.

"I said we should take Casey to the pokémon centre. To make sure he's well."

"Oh." Joe shrugged. "Good point. Okay." He stood up, lifting the small egg pokémon with him. "Lead the way." He told Winter. He grabbed his bag and swung it back onto his back as they headed for the exit.

"What about the name scrambles?" Winter asked.

"His name is Casey!" Joe snapped.

"Alright. I was only throwing around ideas."


	8. Chapter 8: Bugsy: King of the Hive

"Thank you both for helping deal with the Rocket situation earlier." Kurt told the duo once they made it back to his home in Azalea town. Joe and Winter had helped escort him back out of the cave, cleverly wrapping the rope the Rockets had stupidly left behind to tie it around his waist and pull him up with it. They had needed Ralph's help for that. That had taken them almost twenty minutes to figure out. During that process, Casey, Joe's new baby togepi, had begun to cry out of hunger. His wails and sobs echoed in the stone and irritated them all to astonishment. Ralph had to cover his ears. Once they had finally gotten out Joe had tried to feed him but the little egg pokémon had refused any of the berries Joe tried to give him. Because of this he'd headed immediately for the pokémon centre, while Winter helped Kurt make his way back to his house. Joe had carried the sobbing togepi into the pokémon centre and alerted the nurse in seconds. The small egg pokémon's cries caught the attention of pretty much every trainer, pokémon and doctor in the building. The nurse joy at the counted had taken him in in seconds.

"Where did you get this adorable, and loud, little fellow?" She asked, stroking the baby on its spiky head and rocking it in her arms. Casey grumbled his stomach and whimpered in distress.

"He hatched for an egg I was carrying, not much more than half an hour ago." Joe explained, looking quite strained and tired already. He hadn't expected the young togepi to be so loud, let alone start crying so soon. He hadn't even been in this world for more than an hour. The nurse patted Casey on the back and he burped. Still he kept crying.

"Have you fed him yet?" She asked.

"I tried to give him an Oran berry." Joe explained. "But he wouldn't eat it." The nurse sighed.

"No, they won't at such a young age." She explained. "You need to feed them pureed food at this age. Give him a week or so then he'll move to solid food." She smiled at Joe. "I'm assuming this is your first pokémon baby you've taken care of." She asked.

Joe nodded, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, pretty much." She smiled.

"Don't worry about it. We get all sorts of trainers coming in now and then with eggs or baby pokémon that need care. You're not a first." She placed Casey on the table and pulled out a small little device which looked like some kind of portable battery powered blender. Casey's eyes were puffed and red with wailing tears. "Use this to mash up a berry and place the resulting juice into a mug and feed it to the little one here." She explained. "It's simple and can fit in your bag with ease." She placed a personal Oran berry into the feeder, placed the lid tightly over it, and turned it on. The blades inside rotated at an almost imperceptible speed. A second later she turned it off and when the blades stopped a low level of purple juice was left floating inside. She tipped the liquid into a detachable thermal mug on the side of the blender and detached it, placing it on the table. "Just make little Togepi drink this and his stomach should stop grumbling for a while." Joe took the cup. The juice looked sweet and delectable. It smelt like pure sugar. He fought back the urge to drink it himself.

"So how many times do I need to feed him?" He asked. The nurse thought for a second.

"Well, most baby pokémon require feeding only once every ten hours, but mostly it depends on their species." She explained. "For Togepi here, he'll need feeding this way once every six hours or so, that will be around four times a day."

"Four!" Joe repeated. He looked at the device on the table, with its mug and blender, then at his own bag and almost barren pack of berries. "I don't have enough berries for that." The nurse nattered a laugh.

"Oh don't worry about that." The nurse told him. "You don't need to use berries all the time. You can blend any kind of fruit and the little chap will most likely drink it. Apple's seem to work well." Joe didn't seem to like this idea.

"I wouldn't know about that." He told her. "I have another pokémon who's a big fan of those." He imagined how Pippy would react if Joe told him he no longer had any apples to feed him specifically. He had named him after the fruit's seeds after all. He imagined the reaction would be quite electric. The nurse smiled kindly at him.

"Don't worry. You'll do fine. It's not so tough to take care of the little tykes once you know how." She explained. "You'll know what to do when the time comes. Just listen to your instincts and you'll grow a healthy baby pokémon." Joe seemed to have another question.

"What about when he… you know… goes." He asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. The nurse chuckled a little.

"Oh don't worry about that." She told him. "Togepis don't do that." Joe looked a little confused. "He's okay to take away now." The nurse said suddenly as she placed the cup back on the table. Joe looked down to realise that Casey was no longer crying, but was now sitting happily with a full belly and a big smile on his face. Joe smiled back at the little egg pokémon on the desk. Carefully he took the mashing device and packed it into his back. Then he lifted Casey gently into his arms and placed him too into his bag where he snuggled away and fell asleep next to the sack of berries. Joe hoped he wouldn't eat them at any point.

"Thank you for your help, nurse." Joe said gratefully. The nurse bowed, smiling still.

"My pleasure. Do take care, and look after the little one." She waved as Joe walked out of the pokémon centre.

"Joe." Winter said. Joe suddenly snapped back to reality. His mind had been focused a lot on Casey, his little togepi baby, and the few hours he had spent with him in his existence. He quickly remembered where he was, inside Kurt's nice wooden home with Winter and Ralph, talking with him about the recent Team Rocket incident.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"I was saying about how grateful I was for you and your friend helping me at the well this morning." Kurt repeated himself.

"Oh. Of course. Right. Yes. You're welcome." He said, sounding a little flustered and shaken awake. Kurt nodded, sitting in his nice wooden oak chair.

"Well, since you both chose to help out of your own hearts I felt that such courage and determination deserved respect and rewarding." He leaned forwards. "I don't have much to offer, but if either of you have any apricorns I can turn them quickly into pokeballs for you, free of charge. That's about as much as I can do for you." Joe felt in his pockets and looked back at the elder man.

"Sorry, but I don't have any apricorns." He explained. "I don't even think I know what one looks like."

Winter suddenly raider her hand. "Actually." She interrupted. "I think I might have one." She reached into her pockets and a few seconds later she pulled out a small, hard, blue shelled perfectly round seed like fruit, holding it within her palm. The corn seed was almost big enough to fit in it completely, like a pokeball. "Is this what you need?" She asked. Kurt nodded with a smile.

"That is a blue apricorns." He said. "I can turn it into a lure ball for you, which will make it easier to catch pokémon caught on fishing rods. If that's what you want." Joe looked at his friend.

"Where did you find that?" He asked. Winter smiled at him.

"I saw it lying by the well." She explained. "There was just the one. Someone might have dropped it. I thought it wasn't likely they'd come back for something so small so I took it myself." Joe chuckled a little.

"You sneaky thief." He said, a little amused. She blushed, though she wasn't too sure why.

"Would you like me to turn this apricorns into a lure ball for you?" Kurt asked. Winter turned back to him and gave a confirming nod.

"Yes." Kurt held out a hand which Winter gladly placed the blue apricorns into. Then the old man got to work immediately, turning the apricorns into a unique pokeball. It took him an hour or so before he finally turned back around and said.

"Here you are." He passed winter a pokeball a green top and red-brown wavy marking across it. "That's one lure ball for helping me with the Rocket's. I'm sorry it's such an insignificant reward for the two of you but I don't have much money or any objects to give you instead." Joe waved a hand, cutting him of.

"It's okay." He said kindly as he could. "We don't need it. We just wanted to help out." Kurt smiled.

"And thank you for that."

"We ought to go." Winter butted in. If you want to take on the gym, I mean."

"Of course." Joe told her. He turned to Kurt and bowed. "Thank you for your hospitality." He said. Kurt smiled.

"Think nothing of it." He told them. "Now go battle a gym leader!" The two trainers walked out, bringing Ralph close behind them.

They found the gym with ease. It was after all the only tall building in the town. On the sign outside was the picture of a spider's web and a butterfly fluttering in front of it.

"Bug types." Joe quickly figured out. He smiled a little. "Well that won't be much of a problem. I have a few pokémon who can deal with them."

"Yeah, but don't get too cocky." Winter warned him. "You remember what happens every time you do that. You either loose or nearly loose." Joe tutted to himself.

"Yeah that does happen." He agreed. Then he smiled. "Oh well. No rest for the wicked." Then he walked in, letting the glass doors slide open first before strolling in. And very nearly fell into a huge spiders web. Joe stopped just in time as his foot nearly went over the blackened edge. "What the?!" He exclaimed, looking down into the deep. He had not been expecting a huge web to be in front of the doorway. Then he looked up and realised that, actually, it wasn't just the doorway. The web covered almost the entire room. The silk net spread across every empty part of the room, until it reached the battle stadium and the stands around it. And on this web were several robotic spider carriers, each fitted with a large float on their back for them to stand on.

"Well it's certainly unique." Winter muttered. One of the spider robots reached them at the doorway and stopped at the edge, allowing them to step on. They did so without a second thought. The large robot crawled easily across the web under it, knocking Joe and Winter about a little. Ralph just flew alongside them, nit needing to worry about falling or standing on the robot. He had wings. Quickly they reached the other side and stepped of, finding themselves on a green, leaf and moss covered stadium. At the other end of it stood a boy, wearing bug hunting clothing: pail shorts, short sleeve white shirt and green jungle coat over it. His hair was longish and purple, which was pretty odd for a young boy. In his hand was a net and in his other hand was a pokeball. He looked up at the two entering trainers and nodded a friendly gesture.

"Good morning." He called. Joe looked back, a little confused.

"Good morning?" He called back. He looked at this strangely dressed jungle boy and tried to figure him out. "Are you the gym leader?" He asked. The boy nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yes." He said simply. "I'm Bugsy. Take three guesses at what I use."

"Bug-types?" Joe asked. Bugsy nodded.

"Correct. You get a gold star."

"Oh, thank you very much." Joe joked along with him. Winter nudged him, pushing him forwards.

"I suppose you came here to battle me?" Bugsy asked. Joe nodded simply.

"Yes." He said.

"I'll be watching from the stands." She whispered to him. "Good luck." She walked away and headed up the steps into the stand, taking a seat and watching as the battle prepared to begin. Bugsy smiled.

"Very well then. I'm no fan of long talking, so let's just get on with it. What's your name trainer?"

"Joe." Joe told him.

"Very well, Joe. I, Bugsy, the gym leader of Azalea town, accept your challenge." He smiled a powerfully determined, glistening smile. "Now let's fight!" He yelled. Then he threw a pokeball through the air. Joe took up place at his podium, preparing to release his own pokémon. At the side of the arena a large electronic score board fell from the roof, hanging above the battle for all to see. The game was set. Now all that was needed was for the first pokémon to be released and for the first commands to be made, and then the game would start.

Bugsy's pokeball landed and released a quickly moving, fluttering butterfree.

"Alright, Butterfree, prepare to do some damage!" Bugsy called. "Your turn trainer." He called. Joe picked a pokeball and released it.

"Go, Quill!" He called. The ball landed and released his young but powerful and determined cyndaquil. Bugsy seemed to smile.

"Bug verses a fire type." He muttered. "I like these odds." He pointed a hand. "Butterfree, confusion!" The butterfree on his side of the field created a small purple-pink field of energy around it, then fired a ring of psychic power, aimed straight ahead at Quill.

"Dodge it!" Joe called. Quill rolled aside, passing just under and aside the attack as it shot overhead. "Now, use ember!" Joe called. Quill spat a small flame at butterfree, hitting it in the wing as it tried to dodge the attack and scorched it badly. The butterfly pokémon fluttered back, wincing with burning pain.

"Attack again." Bugsy called. Butterfree fired another confusion. This time that attack hit. Quill was knocked rolling backwards by the force of the psychic attack. He quickly got back onto his small feet, however and ran at the fluttering dark blue butterfly. "Stun Spore!" Bugsy called now. Butterfree flapped its wings heavily and sent a cluster of yellow spores floating out from small sacks under its wings. The small cloud of spores floated about in front of the pokémon like a defensive wall of pollen. Joe saw the imminent danger.

"Quill stop!" He called. Quill stopped, just before he ran head first into the cloud. Butterfree seemed to let out an annoyed groan. Quill hadn't been paralysed. The small cyndaquil stepped backwards, further away from the spores. "Dodged a paralysing bullet there." Joe muttered. Then he made his next command. "Quill, teach it a lesson with Smokescreen!" He called. Quill's mouth puffed up and when he breathed out he let loose a long plume of black choking smoke. The smoke spread out like water on a large flat china plate, engulfing the butterfree in its wake. The butterfree coughed lightly and flapped its large wings quickly back and forth. Within seconds the smoke began to waft away, allowing the opponent the ability to see a little more. Before it could do anything about this though, something small and fiery headbutted it in the body. Butterfree fell backwards, nearly falling from the air. Quill rubbed his forehead, the recoil damage he'd suffered giving him a mild headache. On the board Quill's health dropped a little. Butterfree's health, however, was almost half way. Bugsy clenched his free hand into a fist.

"Alright, Butterfree, poison this pestering mouse!" He called. Butterfree fluttered its wings again, except this time instead of releasing a cloud of yellow spores, it released a cloud of purple dust particles. The particles of poisonous material caught on the air and floated further then previous attack, spreading out wider in a hard to see film of toxic matter.

"Quill, pull back!" Joe called. Quill tried to back up, but the small bit of purple were moving quickly, spreading out like the blast of an atomic bomb. Before he could even realise, the cloud had passed him, small bits of purple rubbing across his back and legs. He felt a sudden sharp stinging sensation all over. Then he felt sick. He had been poisoned by the cloud. He fell to his knees weakly as the cloud passed by, evaporating eventually into nonexistence again. Joe cursed. If Quill stayed out for too long then the poison would get the better of him. He'd have to get him to take out butterfree and quick.

"Good work butterfree." Bugsy called. Butterfree looked back and smiled. Joe noticed a weak spot of the pokémon. While its back was turned it left open a small area of thinned looking exoskeleton. If Quill could hit it there he may be able to do additional damaged to it.

"Quill, use ember quick!" Joe called, but quietly so that Bugsy and Butterfree didn't hear him so quickly. Quill stood up weakly. His entire body felt feeble and tired. The poisoning was clearly causing him a lot of suffering. But he tried to go on. He breathed in and spat out a small flicker of flame which flew across the arena. Bugsy realised all too late what he was doing.

"Look out!" He called. Butterfree didn't turn in time. The attack hit it square in the spine, knocking it forward and causing humungous damage. On the score board its health fell nearly to zero. The pokémon turned, looking annoyed at the still fighting cyndaquil opposing it. "Finish it with a confusion!" Bugsy called. Butterfree fired a ring of pink psychic energy.

"Take it out with one last ember!" Joe instructed. Quill spat a small flame at the now fighting back butterfree. The two attacks met in the middle and passed straight through each other. They hit their targets. Quill was sent flying backwards, belly up, as he landed heavily on the floor, still conscious. Butterfree was less lucky. As the fire struck it, it was knocked back, burned up and then it fell from the air, landing on its back, defeated. Bugsy withdrew it instantly. He looked at Joe who was praising his pokémon. "Nice one, Quill." He told the small mouse. Quill smiled at him and weakly made his way back to his side. Joe decided to withdraw him for now. He was poisoned still and therefor too weak to keep up the fight. Bugsy smiled at his opponent.

"Nice job taking out my butterfree." He told him. "But he was just a taster. Now you get to meet my strongest." He reached for another pokeball. "Come on out, Scyther, and join the party." He threw the pokeball and released an energetic, tall standing, sharp scythe armed, flapping winged, mantis like scyther. The new scyther scrapped its claws together and slashed them together through the air. Joe reached for his own pokeballs and thought about which to send out. Quill was out so fire wasn't an option. So he'd have to rely on one of the others till Ralph became a necessity. He eventually decided and unclipped a pokeball.

"Go, Leaf!" He called. He threw his pokeball and released the small chikorita onto the field. Leaf looked at its opponent. Scyther looked down at him, returning a nasty knowing grin. Leaf felt his legs shake. "You can do it." Joe whispered to his pokémon, quietly. Leaf gulped and tried to show some kind of confidence. It was clearly a failing attempt but he clearly was ready to try. Scyther seemed to be looking almost careless. It clearly believed that Leaf didn't stand a chance against it.

"Scyther, Quick Attack!" Bugsy called. Scyther darted forwards.

"Leaf, Re…" Before Joe could finish his command Scyther struck, ramming Leaf in the face with a flat sharp toed foot, knocking him back and over. Leaf rolled from his back to his front and followed the attack by creating a thin and light pink wall of bending light around him. The wall shrunk into a circular energy field around him specifically. "Good job!" Joe told him, proud Leaf had figured out what he'd tried to say. "Now, slow it down with poison powder!" Leaf flicked his head lead several times, whipping out specs of purple dust which sprayed out in a poisonous cloud towards Scyther, just like Butterfree had used on Quill a minute before. Leaf had learned poison powder during their walk, apparently he'd gained enough experience simply from walking to figure out a new move. Fortunately this meant that he had something that would give him an advantage over scyther.

"Move, quickly!" Bugsy called. Scyther darted backwards in a flash of speed. The cloud followed it. It darted aside. The cloud passed.

"Again!" Joe instructed. Leaf released a wider spread cloud of poisonous dust. Scyther tried to evade this one but failed in the end. As it darted away a small speck was caught in its movement and tapped its elbow. It felt sharp stinging pain as the poison set in. It felt like it wanted to hurl, but couldn't. It fell to its knees, holding itself up with its sharp scythe points. But still it fought back.

"False Swipe!" Bugsy commanded. Scyther pushed itself back onto its feat sickly and charged, a little slower this time, swinging its scythes like reaping blades. Leaf wasn't able to move fast enough. The attack hit and knocked him back, doing a lot of damage but, thanks to the reflect shield, not as much as it could have. It still left Leaf with enough strength to get back up.

"Tackle!" Joe commanded. Leaf rubbed his front foot across the ground, kicking up leaves as it pulled back. Then he charged, running straight towards its opponent.

"Dodge it!" Bugsy called. Scyther darted to the left and Leaf's attack missed. He ran through nothing, passing through the outline of a once standing there mantis as Scyther laughed at his failure to land the attack. Leaf got back up from the ground and tried again. He ran at Scyther on to have it do the exact same thing again. He tried a third time, except this time he got lucky. As he charged scyther went to dart back but tripped up on a loose bile of leaves it had been standing on. It slipped and fell back, landing on its fragile wings and causing a small but evidently harmless crunching sound. Leaf took advantage and ran at it, passing through its open legs. There was a nasty strike and Scyther lurched forwards, grabbing bellow its gut. Its eyes bulged slightly. Leaf walked back out, his eyes rolling with mild dizziness from bumping his head.

"Uh, good job?" Joe wasn't too sure what to make of that attack. What was he meant to say? You hit him right in the pokeballs? This is a book for kids, guys. Bugsy winced as his pokémon was hit. He swung his net in annoyance.

"Come on, Scyther. Take that walking vegetable down!" He yelled. Scyther stood back up, groaning with pain still and finding it tough to stand on both legs comfortably. "Focus Energy then Pursuit it!" Bugsy instructed. Once Scyther regained comfort on its feet it clenched its muscles and focused its body and mind in to a limber state. When it was ready to fight again it pulled back its scyther and dashed forwards in a sprint of black and dark green.

"Leaf, look out!" Joe called. Leaf turned barely in time to see Scyther attack. But he couldn't react quickly enough. He went to whip his leaf and send a spray of razor leaves out ahead to strike the incoming scyther, but unfortunately scyther was already there by the time he began to do so. Scyther struck, knocking Leaf aside with a sharp and powerful scythe. Leaf landed on his side, groaning and wincing with clear pain. Scyther cackled a little before coughing up purple ooze and bubbles. The poisoning was getting worse. If Leaf could find a way to dodge the next few attacks then he might survive long enough to see scyther succumb to the poison first.

"Scyther, False Swipe!" Bugsy called. No that was not likely to happen. Scyther darted forwards, slashing Leaf across the face with a blade arm. Leaf yelped and fell backwards, dodging a singular swinging blade as it came chopping down towards him. He ducked as the other bladed arm swung over his head, trimming the edge of his leaf by a millimetre. "Quick attack!" Bugsy called. Scyther disappeared in a blur of green outline. Then it was in front of Leaf, striking with its elbows. Leaf fell to his knees unable to avoid any more attacks. Scyther stood over him like the grim reaper. Bugsy's fists clenched with tense sweat. "Finish it." He called. Scyther raised its arms. And, for Leaf, the world went black. Scyther lowered its arms again. Leaf lay in front of it, unconscious. Joe's heart sank. Well, at least his pokémon had tried.

"Good job, Leaf." He said, not upset but proud. He knew Leaf wasn't likely to win, but he had given his goddamn best in the situation. "You deserve this rest." He clipped the pokeball back to his belt. As he did so Scyther fell to its knees and arm tips, its belly rumbling with illness and its face pail and bloated. The poison was finishing it of now. With a small retching gurgle the large mantis insect collapsed under its own weight, lying flat on the floor, arms out at its sides and wings folded in on its back. Bugsy withdrew his own pokémon now. Wordlessly he put the pokeball to his side.

"Down to both our last pokémon then." Bugsy muttered. He raised his head up to show he was smiling, a mixture of excitement and tension. "I like it when this happens. It shows we are almost equals." He reached for his third pokeball and readied in his hands. "One left." He muttered. He threw the pokeball. "Go, Beedrill!" The ball popped open and released a large yellow and black, drill armed bee with big black eyes and a long yellow stinger on its abdomen. It buzzed loudly and fluttered about, speeding itself up to make quick, sharp attacks. Joe inhaled painfully. He had painful memories whenever he saw a beedrill. Not memories of bad beedrills, no. Memories of his own beedrill. Sting. It still hurt and it came back up every time he saw one of them. He clenched his fist, trying to push the pain back down. This was a battle. He needed to focus. He didn't need to have his mind on darker times. That had all been several months ago. He was starting a new adventure now. He had new pokémon. More friends to help him cope. He turned to his partner.

"You wanna take over?" He asked. Ralph nodded with a solemn face. He clearly suffered from the same trouble of seeing someone who looked like his old friend. But still he stayed strong. He knew just as much not to let his memories and feelings get in the way of the battle. The opponent would not share the same grieving. Ralph took up his place on the field. Then battle continued.

"Beedrill, Twin Needle!" Bugsy roared in his childish voice.

"Ralph, Cross Poison!" Joe counter commanded. Both pokémon lunged in to attack. Beedrill pulled back a drill arm. Ralph flew directly past as it swung. The two jabs it made struck empty air with rapid jabbing speed. As it turned it saw Ralph's wings slash down. The cross poison hit and knocked beedrill back a bit. The large wasp buzzed in pain then toughened itself up, preparing for the next attack and to make its own at the same time.

"Focus energy." Bugsy instructed. Beedrill tightened then loosened its muscles.

"Fly!" Joe called. Ralph flew up above the stadium, aiming down at the opponent beedrill and preparing to attack. The beedrill was looking back up, showing no emotion on its blank face. Then Ralph dived again, dropping down with his wings folded in like a screeching purple missile. He narrowed into a forty-five degree angle dive and, just before he struck the ground, pulled up into an above ground charge, flying straight towards the excited buzzing bug. He was seconds away from striking. Then, to his unending surprise, the beedrill moved, pulling aside as Ralph flew in and swinging out a drill. Ralph was going too fast to change course. He glided ahead and struck the outstretched drill head on. There was a painful thwacking sound as Beedrill swung its drill around on impact. Ralph could be seen rotating backwards as the flat edge of the drill smacked him in the face. The crowd winced (the crowd being the two trainers in the battle and the one watching from the sides.). Ralph's head spun from the attack, but quickly he regained focus. He spread his wings and prepared for another attack. Beedrill waited, sitting eager. "Steel Wing!" Joe called. Ralph's wings hardened till they shimmered like solid metal.

"Fury Attack!" Bugsy called. Beedrill pulled its stinging drills back, ready to lay down several hits. Ralph flew forwards to attack. Beedrill held its ground. The large crobat left a ray of silver in his wake as his metal coated wings sliced the air as they passed through it. He reached beedrill and swung it. Beedrill lashed out. Both attacks landed and both hit with precision aiming. Beedrill landed four hits into Ralph's side as he passed by. Ralph's wing struck beedrill in the head, knocking it over and backwards. Both pokémon were hit back by their attacks and both recovered quickly. "Twin Needle!" Bugsy called. Beedrill flew in to attack while Ralph was still getting up. The two sharp drills glowed dark greeny-brown and jabbed in, striking Ralph under the wings at the same time. He recoiled and winced with the surprise of the attack.

"Come on Ralph." Joe called to encourage. "Use confuse ray on it!" Ralph nodded to him, showing he was still able to fight. As Beedrill came in for another attack he dodged aside as fired a small ball of grey light from his mouth. The ball rotated around Beedrill till it was directly in its line of sight and remained there. Beedrill tried to swat it away but the ball wouldn't move. It spun around, trying to get away from it but it followed, moving faster than it could. It kept spinning, hoping to find a point it could see past it. The ball followed it, sticking to its face like chewing gum to a pavement. Soon beedrill was doing a pirouette where it floated, desperately trying to get away from this pestering ball. Finally, when it had spun so fast the world moved, the ball popped out of existence and beedrill stopped spinning, its head tilting loosely from side to side as it struggled to regather its balance.

"Focus, Beedrill." Bugsy yelled. "Fury Attack, now!" Beedrill sped forwards, moving in a curving line towards his unmoving opponent. It lashed out and jabbed five times. None of them hit because it had missed Ralph by half a metre and flown of to the side. Now was Ralph's advantage.

"Strike it down!" Joe called. Ralph flew up behind the confused bug and struck it on the back of the head with a powerful slash from his wings. And for beedrill all the lights went out. It collapsed to the ground, unconscious. And that was the end of the battle. Joe and Ralph had won yet again. Bugsy looked quite astonished.

"You completely squashed me." He said, both disappointed and excited. He withdrew beedrill without even looking at it or saying anything to it. He walked over to Joe and Ralph who were both walking towards the middle of the arena they had just battled in. Bugsy was smiling now, supposedly proud of the battle he had just given, even though Joe had won quite quickly. "That was a down right awesome battle." The child gym leader said, punching a fist to the air. "So I imagine you deserve the badge I'm meant to give you now." He added, pulling out a small circular badge from his pocket and handing it forwards to Joe. Joe took it proudly. The badge was mostly red, with a few small black area, mainly made up of three round dots on the back and a cut of bit at the top. It looked like a metallic flat ladybird. He place the new badge with his others, the newest before being Falkner's zephyr badge, which looked like a silver pair of rectangular wings. "The insect badge should show any trainers that mess with you that you're no easy opponent. You beat me after all. Joe nodded.

"Uh, thanks." He said, sounding a little unsure by Bugsy's comment. The kid was clearly overconfident about his skill.

"Good luck with your travels." Bugsy called after him as Joe re-joined with Winder and Ralph near the door and left, heading for the pokémon centre.

* * *

"That was quite easy, actually." Joe said, once they'd left the building.

"I must admit it did look it." Winter agreed. "But don't forget he managed to take out Leaf and poison Quill. You should take them to be healed up as soon as possible"

"What did you think I was going to do?" Joe asked rhetorically. "Truthfully I was half expecting that Leaf wouldn't survive that battle but, considering the disadvantage he had, he did a good job. Hell, Scyther went down shortly after he did. In my book that's a damn good battle he gave."

"That's a very positive opinion to have." Winter told him. "To some trainers they'd think that method of thought was stupid."

"But I'm not most trainers."

"No you're not." Winter agreed, giving a small and exhausted sigh under her breath. She yawned and stretched her arms. "I feel ready to give in for today." She announced. Joe had to admit he felt quite tired, too.

"Yeah." He agreed. "We don't have to start the walk to the next town just yet. We should take the rest of the day of then go in the morning. The team need a rest after all and…"

"YOU!" The shout made them both jump out of their skin. The three of them froze in mid step. It came from behind. A voice that they had only met once but somehow their minds recognised it instantly. It had a hint of vulgarity and disregard to danger, humanity, care or anything morally correct. Yet above all that it sounded blatantly furious. You could practically hear the tone of voice growling itself. Joe and Winter looked at each other, just to check that they hadn't heard it. Then they looked around, seeing if it was even them that had been shouted at. As it was everyone in the area at the time turned to look at the shouter. A boy, around the same age as Joe and Winter, with longish red hair that covered over his brown eyes slightly, wearing a log sleeved dark blue jacket that was zipped up and dark grey jeans. He was looking directly at the two trainers like they were criminals, stomping forwards in a speed walk, fists clenched. The trio recognised him instantly.

"You?" Joe called. "You're that Silver kid, right? The one who tried to battle me on Route thirty two. Who bullied and even released his own pokémon." Silver didn't answer him. He just walked quickly forwards, fists clenched. Then he grabbed Joe by the collar and pushed him back.

"Where is it?!" He yelled in his face. Joe exclaimed in surprise.

"What?" He asked, thoroughly confused.

"Give me back my freaking Cyndaquil, you hole!" He shouted. Joe grabbed his arm, pushing him away. Silver did not let go. Instead he prepared to punch Joe again. "You want a broken nose to go with your bruises?" He asked, viciously.

"Let go of him!" Winter tried to interfere. Silver just gave her a stare of anger and ignored her.

"You released him yourself." Joe told him, staying quite calm and confident considering the situation he was in. "You didn't want him, so you threw him away. It's your fault he doesn't want to go back to you." Silver shook Joe back, knocking his head backwards.

"He's not your pokémon!" He yelled.

"He's not your either!" Joe shouted back. "You stole him from Elm! He never belonged to you! You abused a pokémon that was not yours by right!" The few people that were watching all gasped in surprise. Silver looked around to see their faces looking at him in disgust. He growled and turned back to Joe.

"Making me out as the bad guy." He spat with hatred. "Alright. You think you're a better trainer then me? Prove it. We'll battle again. Right here. Right now. Me vs You. If I win I take back Cyndaquil. If you win you keep him." Silver finally let go of Joe's collar. He fell forwards, gasping a little. Silver had a surprisingly strong arm. Joe rubbed his neck and looked at the furious young man.

"My pokémon aren't in any condition to battle right now." He explained. "We just battled the gym. They're exhausted. They need a rest at the pokémon centre." Silver drew a line in the air with a hand.

"No!" He said simply and spitefully. "We battle now. If you're too much of a chicken then go and heal your pokémon, but if you do that then I take back Cyndaquil!" He threw his arms to his sides. "So, what's it going to be you thieving kid?! You gonna battle me or are you gonna wuss out?" Joe looked at Winter who just shrugged, unknowing.

"Helpful." He muttered to her. He turned to Silver, not feeling he had much of a choice. "Alright." He agreed finally. "I accept your challenge." Silver snarled.

"Ok." He spat. "Let's battle!"

The following battle was almost like a dream, but you couldn't call it a dream because dream implies it went the way the dreamer wanted it to. Dream implies it went well. It did not go well. In that respect it was more of a nightmare. Silver released his first pokémon and it was all downhill from there. Joe had guessed the irate trainer would have caught one or two pokémon since their last battle, but the first pokémon he sent out was a big surprise. It was basically a floating gassy sphere with two large white eyes and a large fanged mouth and long black tongue. It floated up and down slowly, licking its tongue, waiting for its opponent to appear. Silver saw Joe's face.

"Scared by my Gastly, trainer?" He asked. Joe made his face stern.

"No." He said simply. "Are you?" Silver cackled quietly.

"You wish." He looked to Joe's belt, then back to his face. "Your turn." He gestured. Joe reached for a pokeball. He only had four pokémon who could battle, and one of them was unwell, so he wasn't likely to last long. Leaf was unconscious and Casey was too young to face his first battle. He'd have to make a decision on who was the best choice for this fight. Eventually he picked and unclipped a pokeball.

"Go, Mar!" He called. He threw the pokeball and released the jolly marill onto the street. He puffed up his chest and thumped his torso, trying to look intimidating. Gastly wasn't buying it. Neither was Silver.

"Hah. Child's play." He muttered and wafted a hand away with disrespect. "Gastly, Lick!" He called. Gastly let its long eerie tongue fall out of its mouth as it faded away into nothing. Mar looked around confused. He felt a cold chill down his spine. Then something sandpapery, rough, tough and wet press up his side and burn his skin. Mar froze where his was, his face contorting as Gastly's tongue ran up his side and slapped him in the face with its disgusting disembodied ambiguousness. Gastly chuckled as it saw Mar's face afterwards. "You don't even try and fight back!" Silver commented cruelly. "What kind of a trainer are you to not tell your pokémon to do anything?" Joe glared at him. Who was he to tell him to raise his pokémon? He who released his pokémon when they failed to win a battle. He felt his hands clench into fists.

"Just wait." He muttered to himself. He pointed an accusing finger. "Mar, Water Gun!" The marill on his side swelled up his cheeks and spat a long globule of pure water from his pursed mouth. The attack missed. Gastly vanished before it could get anywhere close to landing. It been anticipating the attack well before Mar had even started to use it. Silver rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Good job. Totally missed there." Joe growled. He was taking the mick now. He was daring to taunt him about a pokémon attack missing. He acted as if only bad pokémon missed occasionally.

"Mar, tackle it!" Joe called. Mar charged at the reappearing Gastly and passed straight through it.

"Good idea, genius." Silver taunted. "Normal moves can't hit ghost types. Pokémon training 101." He audibly snorted his annoyance. Joe was about ready to lay down the law with this guy. Either he shuts up or he'll make him shut up.

"Mar, try water gun again."

"Curse it!" Silver instructed. Mar fired his attack and slapped Gastly in the face with a pellet of water. Gastly however was hardly bothered by it. In fact it was so not bothered that it began to steam and grow out, shadows forming around it. The shadow it made sunk into the ground and spread out, heading towards the now rightfully worried marill.

"What on earth?" Joe asked. Mar had no idea what to do about this. In fact there was nothing he could do. The shadow was just an aftermath. The curse had already been laid on him. The shadows faded away and Gastly fell from the air a little, seemingly taking some invisible damage. Silver smiled at Joe with a malicious knowing grimace.

"Your little water mouse is doomed now." He muttered evilly. Even as he said it Joe could see the life being sucked from Mar as he seemed to fall weak and struggle to stand. As he was struggling to stay up Gastly came in for another attack, this time slapping Mar square in the face with its tongue and knocking him over. Mar fell onto his back and rolled over as Gastly came in for another attack. Mar fired a water gun which hit Gastly in the face, but at the same time suffered more damage from the curse it had lay. Soon he was too weak to keep fighting. Gastly finished the fight with a final tackle. Mar fell backwards, falling limp and exhausted. Joe withdrew him as silver grinned.

"Seeing a difference yet?" He asked, cruelly. "Clearly you're not such a great trainer as you think." That was the final straw. Joe turned to this cold hearted cruel demon of a trainer.

"That's rich coming from you, the guy you couldn't defeat a chikorita with a fire type or a water type!" Winter gasped. It was such a cruel thing for Joe to even think of saying, but he'd said it. He was lowering himself to insults. He was becoming no better than Silver was. Silver smirked.

"Well, that's one of your pokémon down. How many more do I have to destroy just as easily?" Joe withdrew Mar.

"None if I destroy you first." He commented. Silver withdrew his Gastly as well, deciding to swap around for another team pokémon for now. Joe reached for the pokeball of an old friend who he knew could probably sort out this battle in minutes.

"Go, Pippy." He called, throwing the pokeball forwards. It released his happy-go-lucky pikachu from his holding and sent him out to fight now. Silver unclipped and released his own pokémon.

"Go, Hoothoot!" He called. The pokémon released was s all and brown feathered with small wing and a round body and white belly. It had two legs with large feet but it stood and rested on only one at a time, occasionally swapping to the other one as the previous one sank into its feathers. It had large red eyes with tiny pupils and a small round beak in between. Above its eyes two eyebrows sat, shaped like arrows on a clock, pointing at fifteen minutes to two. The small owl hooted loudly and sat patiently on its one extended scrawny leg. It stared at Pippy with its almost glowing eyes. Pippy stared back, looking slightly transfixed. Joe seemed to grin a little. He had a type advantage. This encouraged him to call first.

"Alright Pippy, give it a nasty shock with Thunderbolt!" He yelled, pointing his hand at the opponent hoothoot. He quickly realised that no attack was coming. Even hoothoot didn't seem to be reacting as if one was coming. It just stared at its opponent pokémon with unblinking eyes. And then, quite suddenly, Pippy collapsed. Small snores came from him as he lay asleep on the concrete road. Joe was stunned. "What are you doing?" He asked. Pippy didn't respond. He just lay, snoozing soundly as hoothoot switched legs and finally blinked. Its trainer laughed loudly.

"You took too long to make a call." He explained. "So I did it for you and ended that fight before it even began." It was at that point Joe realised why Hoothoot's eyes had appeared to be glowing. He looked at Silver, disapprovingly.

"That's a dirty trick." He said, sounding very displeased. "Getting our pokémon to use hypnosis before I even had time to make a command. That's very unsporting of you." Silver shrugged.

"So" He said. "That's battles. They're not always fare. Maybe you shouldn't be such a wimp and learn to accept that." Joe was amazed to hear a trainer saying this. No, Silver wasn't a trainer, he was nothing close to one. He was a bully. An abusive, uncaring bully, plain and simple. There was no human heart behind that jacket, there was no caring mind in between his ears. There was only hatred and distrust. It made Joe feel sick that someone like him could call himself a trainer. Wordlessly he withdrew Pippy, not saying anything. All his attention was focused on teaching this punk a lesson. The last time they had battled he had thoughts that's what he'd done. Clearly you needed a stronger, clearer message to hammer into a thick skull. He reached for the last pokeball he could call upon at that point. Ralph was out of his pokeball and, aside from him, he only had one pokémon who could still fight, but he may not be able to do so for much longer.

"Go, Quill!" He called, throwing the red pokeball through the air. It opened on the street and sent out the once owned cyndaquil. Silver stared at it. Then he turned his attention back to Joe.

"So… you gave it a nickname, too." He muttered. Joe nodded as if it didn't make a difference. Silver sneered at him. "You never stop being a pest to me." Joe nearly laughed. He was a pest? Clearly Silver didn't know what he was yet.

"Stop distracting and start battling!" He called. Then he made a command. "Quill, ember!" He called. Quill breathed fire and spat a small flicker of flame at hoothoot, who took it like a champ. The owl hardly even blinked as it took the damage. Silver's teeth clenched tighter.

"You even got it to learn a fire move." He said through crunching jaw. He seemed to make a loud growling sound. "Alright. Enough talk. Hoothoot. Peck its eyes out!" The command was so violent, even hoothoot didn't know whether he was being descriptive or whether he actually wanted it to peck Quill's eyes out. Either way it hopped forwards, still on one foot, and lunged its beak forwards.

"Dodge, Quill!" Joe called. Quill moved aside as Hoothoot smashed its beak down and hit hard concrete. It winced in pain and rubbed its bruised mouth. Quill took advantage and rammed the fat bird in the side, knocking it over. It wailed about on its back, flapping its wings weakly as it tried to get back up. Quill cheered a little for himself. Then he felt the pain of the poison kicking in again. It was getting worse. He could only take so much more before he collapsed completely. He managed to push himself to keep fighting as Hoothoot finally got back to its foot. Silver yelled another command.

"Keep pecking it!" He roared. Hoothoot jumped forwards and swung its beak down, missing the first attack as Quill spat another ember in its eyes. The second attack it made hit, however, doing a lot of damage to the suffering cyndaquil as it was struck upon the top of the head. Quill backed up, trying to ram Hoothoot in the belly again but it jumped out of the way and smacked its tough beak on Quill's back.

"Smokescreen!" Joe called. Quill billowed out a large cloud of black ash which blocked out everything in front of it. Yet still Hoothoot passed through it like it was hardly there, flapping up and striking down with its solid beak. Quill was struggling to keep moving now. He was clearly slowing down. The poison was getting worse. Then, finally the final blow came.

"Kick it down!" Silver roared.

"Tackle!" Joe instructed.

Quill charged in head first. Hoothoot flapped up and hovered just above the ground, head pulled back to fly in and strike. Both pokémon went in to attack and both met in the middle. But as Quill ran he felt his leg give was as it went numb and seized up. He stumbled and slowed, taking his focus of making the attack and instead turning it to getting moving again. He failed to get close to making an attack. Hoothoot arrived first and aimed. Quill looked up just in time to see the fat bird blot out the falling sun. Then it swung down. Its beak hit Quill on the top of the head. His body hit the ground with a thud as his muscles went limp. His brain shut off.

"Quill!" Joe exclaimed, but there was no response from the small fire mouse. Quill was defeated. Hoothoot stepped back and fluttered over to its trainer. Silver looked at it and almost gave a smile. It was a cocky, uncaring smile, but a smile all the same.

"Good job." He said with no hint of actual care. Hoothoot ruffled its wing feathers and pruned itself with its short beak. Joe was standing stunned at how dramatically badly this battle was going. And now he was down to only Ralph, and he was supposed to defeat all three of his pokémon. Ralph was powerful and very skilled in his own abilities, but even against three most likely weaker pokémon he would struggle. Considering one of them had defeated two of his pokémon with little effort, and that one wasn't even the starter or the ghost, it wasn't likely, Ralph having just come from a battle with a gym leader, that he'd have the strength to beat three of them. Still, he'd have to try. Joe turned to his partner who was giving a stern expression to Silver and his pokémon at the moment. Joe didn't even need to say anything to him. He just gave him a look and a confirming nod. Ralph gave him the same expression and nod back.

"Go break a leg." Joe told him. "Preferably his." He added. Ralph took his place on the field. Silver cracked his knuckled.

"Sending out the best now?" He asked. "Let's see just how good your bat really is." Joe cracked his neck and glared at the redhead boy.

"You don't know good." Joe muttered under his breath. He didn't raise a hand. He didn't point a finger. He simply spoke his command. "Ralph buddy, use Steel Wing and take down that Hoothoot." He instructed. Ralph flew in, hardening his wings till they glistened shiny grey. Hoothoot hopped about on its one foot and waited to be hit. It practically knew it was doomed to be hit by such a wide wingspan. The blow came as expected. Hoothoot fell backwards but got back up, strong enough to keep battling.

"Hypnosis!" Silver called. Hoothoot's eyes glowed again.

"Shut eyes now!" Joe shouted. Ralph shut his eyes, using his ears and senses to tell where everything was. He was a bat after all and when his eyes didn't work his echo locating ears would help out. He flew around the owl with his eyes closed and flew up, preparing to strike it from above. "Now fly!" Joe called. Ralph dived down. He struck Hoothoot in the head, knocking it out for good. Silver withdrew the unconscious owl from the field (Or in this case, the street.) and placed its pokeball back to his pocket.

"Alright, I'll give you that your crobat is a tough challenge." He admitted, taking Joe a little surprise. It sounded almost like a complement. It probably would have been if the way he'd said it hadn't told otherwise. Silver crossed his arms, showing that he was not actually impressed at all. "But that says nothing. Bad trainers can have strong pokémon." Joe snorted, trying to hide his laughs.

"That describes you well." He muttered. Sadly Silver heard him and he did not find it funny.

"Shut your pie hole!" He yelled in a sudden breaking high pitch voice. Joe struggled to hold his laughs. Silver growled. "Alright, now I'm mad. Now I'm not going easy on you." He reached for his last of the three pokeballs. Only one pokémon was left to be seen. "Go Totodile!" He yelled. The pokeball snapped open and released the snapping little blue alligator. Joe was surprised to find he hadn't evolved it yet. That was something he'd expected a boy like Silver to do. But he hadn't. Before any more talking could take place Silver made his next command. "Totodile, Bite!" He called. Totodile giggled, jumped from foot to foot and ran at Ralph, mouth agape. Joe sprung back into instructing action.

"Ralph, use Steel Wing again!" He called. Ralph straightened his wings and flew in to attack.

The following battle was surprisingly quick. It started the way most watchers had expected. Totodile bit onto Ralph's wing and took damage, like all the other pokémon that had made the same mistake had. Except in this case, instead of letting go, Totodile held his grip, waited for Ralph's attack to wear off, then bit down harder as he tried to shake him off. Ralph exclaimed in pain and rotated an aileron role as he lost focus and landed heavily into the floor. Then Silver shouted another command.

"Rage on its head!" He yelled Ralph looked up to see Totodile charging. Then his eyes went black. But his mind stayed away. He was not fully unconscious, but also not really conscious. He was left in a daze, confused, half-awake state. Silver called Totodile back to his side and stood with his arms crossed. "And there you have it." He said simply. "I win." Joe looked at the hurt Ralph on the floor, then up at Silver. When he saw him he saw hatred and disrespect for every living thing close to him. He didn't see a trainer. He saw a monster waiting to awaken. Joe shook his head, his teeth gritted and his eyes red from strain.

"No." He said simply. Silver laughed.

"No?" He asked. "No what?" Joe continued to shake his head.

"No." He said. "No. No no no no no no no no no NO!" He looked at Silver. "That was not a victory!" He explained. "That was a theft!" He gritted his teeth, sounding like he was about ready to erupt into flames. "That was a theft of a battle. You stole a victory. You can't even call yourself a trainer. You didn't put trust into your pokémon. You didn't use strategy or skill. You just told them to use move after move, pushing the attack further and further with no thought of even considering if they could do it or not. You hardly even blinked when they were hurt. You are no trainer!" He lifted the dazed Ralph up in his arms and checked his pulse. Ralph tried to focus on him but his eyes swam in their sockets, darting around, trying to find their gaze. Joe looked back at Silver. "And that was not a pokémon battle!" He turned to go. Silver glared at him.

"Hey, where are you going?!" He roared, throwing his arms about in clenched fists. "What about my prize! You said you'd give up Cyndaquil if you lost!" Joe didn't respond. He and Winter walked away, heading for the pokémon centre with the beaten crobat in his arms. Silver growled. "You lying cheating son of an overfed, uncouth, unnatural…!" Silver ran after them, his arms about ready to punch someone. Then he saw a policeman walking at a quick pace in his direction. He stopped and turned back, trying to look inconspicuous. He clicked a finger to Totodile as he passed it. "Let's get out of here." He said simply as he passed. Totodile looked at him concerned, but followed anyway, no longer walking with a spring in its step. It could tell its master was upset and angry, but it didn't know how to help. It didn't even know if it could help. It just followed obeying, heading with him towards the west exit of town, into Ilex forest. As they left Silver turned back to see the two trainers walking into the pokémon centre. He growled under his breath.

"I will fight you again one day!" He said, spitting with anger. "I don't care how long it may take, whether it be a day or a year or a millennium. I will beat you properly and get my pokémon and my honour back!" And the two of them walked down the route, into the approaching night and looming forest.

A storm was approaching…

A rivalry was growing...

A hero was forming…

And only the gods knew who and why.


	9. Chapter 9: The Rematch

The night passed over, but Joe didn't get much sleep. There was too much on his mind. He was still angry about the battle, about how Silver had acted, about how he'd talked to him, about how he'd thrashed his pokémon, even Ralph. At this point they were with the nurses being heals. Ralph wasn't. He was still with Joe and Winter in the back of the pokémon centre, sleeping on the spare beds they had for trainers passing by. He seemed to be sleeping quite well at the moment. Apparently the bump he'd taken to the head wasn't severe or brain damaging. All Totodile had done was daze him for a while. Apparently hitting a crobat in that area of the head would switch off its senses for a while. It was a foul way to play, but it had worked. Joe lay on his bed, looking up at the roof, making patterns out of the ceiling above his head. His mind went back and forth over the battle, trying to figure out how Silver had even beaten him. He wanted to believe it was because most of his pokémon were tired, but there seemed to be something else to it. Maybe it was a lack of skill after spending so much time off. Whatever it was it was making him angry and strained.

He heard movement beside him and a small high pitched whimper. This was followed by a call out and a gurgling cry. Joe sighed. Casey was awake. He'd set the small baby togepi up with his own bed to sleep on and covered the blanket up to his face and given him two pillows, so he was comfortable for the night. The only assumption Joe could make for him waking up again was because he was hungry. He bent over the edge of the bed and pulled his bag up onto his lap. He reached in, pulled out the berry blender device and placed it on the bed. Then he saw Ralph looking at him from the other side. He had baggy eyes but had clearly been awoken by Casey's crying. Fortunately at the moment Winter seemed to be sleeping through it. That wasn't likely to stay the way for long. Joe crushed up a berry and poured the juice into the mug. He slipped of the edge of the bed and up to Casey, propping him up and placing the mug to his lips and attempting to feed him. Casey shook his head. Joe moaned.

"Come on. If you're hungry open up." Joe tried again. Casey shook his head harder, pouring more tears. Joe sighed. "What's wrong then?" He asked. Casey cried louder, making the bed around him wet with tears.

"He might not be hungry." Winter muttered from her bed. Clearly she'd woken up now. Joe looked to see her face staring at him tiredly from under her bed's blanket. She yawned and looked annoyed. "Just make him stop so I can sleep peacefully please." She rolled over, turning her head away from them. Joe sighed. He felt Ralph's wing around his shoulder. He turned to see his companion's large purple face and yellow eyes beside him. Ralph looked at him. Then he picked up Casey in both his large wings. Joe nearly shouted.

"Ralph, be careful!" He exclaimed, terrified that the large bat couldn't hold him properly. He was worried that Ralph's creepy face up close would just scare Casey and make him cry more. But, to his surprise, Casey became a little calmer. He still whimpered, but at least he wasn't wailing now. Ralph smiled. Casey giggled a little, tears still falling down his face. Joe stared at him. "How are you doing that?" He asked. Ralph looked at him and shrugged. Clearly this was new to him, too. Casey smiled at the large bat holding him. Ralph smiled back. Then he began to rock the small baby in his arms, singing some kind of lullaby to him. Joe couldn't make it out because it was in poke speech, but whatever he was saying it was calming Casey down. Joe just watched as the large purple menacing bat rocked to sleep the small, young baby togepi in his wings, singing some kind of lullaby that no human could make out. When Casey finally fell asleep ralph lowered him gently back into Joe's arms. Joe looked at the small life he was holding and an adoring smile crossed his face. He looked back up at Ralph. "How on earth did you know to do that?" Joe asked him. Ralph shrugged, genuinely not too sure himself. He'd never been around any human or pokémon babies before and bats aren't raised this way. They grow up hanging onto their mothers or the roofs of caves. He just assumed that that was what you did to calm a baby down and help it sleep. As it was in this case he was one hundred percent right. Joe smiled at his closest friend. "Ralph." He said, grinning delightfully. "You are a godsend!" Ralph blushed and gestured a wing shyly.

The three of them woke up several hours later after being struck by a pillow.

"Wakey wakey!" Winter's voice yelled in their ears. Joe's eyes flickered open, surprised and shocked by the shouting and slapping. He groaned tiredly.

"Wh-what?" He asked. Winter audibly sighed.

"You're still asleep." She groaned. "You need to get up. It's, like, ten in the morning. Come on! Get out of bed before it gets too dark to travel again." She slapped him on the head with the pillow and he exclaimed in mild pain.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up, I'm getting up!" He said, pushing himself up the bed. He saw Winter standing next to the bed, a pillow in her hands. She nodded but did not smile.

"Good." She muttered, throwing the pillow aside and walking out of the room. Joe looked to his right to see Ralph was lying on the bed with him, also awake and looking quite surprised by the wakeup call they had received. Then Joe realised that there was something lying on his lap. He looked down to see Casey, the baby togepi, was lying asleep on his chest. His tears had dried now and it looked like he was going to be asleep for a while. Joe and Ralph looked at each other and smiled.

Joe and Ralph got up and left the room, to find Winter waiting in the main lobby with her pokémon back. She wasn't looking terribly happy. That was probably something to do with being woken up so late at night by Casey's crying. She was sitting on one of the waiting seats and stood up when she saw Joe enter in.

"Finally, you're awake." She said. "Come on. We should get going now if we want to get there today." Joe shook his head with tiredness and looked blankly at her.

"What?" He asked, sleepily. "Get where?"

"To Goldenrod City." Winter explained. "The next city. We need to pass through the forest first. Do you think you're up to that?" She asked sarcastically.

"Of course." Joe answered her. A hint of anger started to raise in his voice. He had begun to remember the previous day as his memory rebooted itself with waking up. He remembered the fight. "That Silver guy headed in there." He muttered with a small growl. "If I see him again…"

"Joe." Winter interrupted. "You shouldn't stress over that. He's not a trainer worth getting angry over." She warned him, but it was clear that Joe didn't pay attention to what she said.

"It's not the fact he beat me. I'm not to hurt by that." Joe explained. "It's the fact he rubbed it in my face, acting like I was the bad trainer while he abuses and insults his own pokémon to make them attack harder and quicker. That just drives me mad." Joe rubbed his forehead with a clenched knuckle. Winter sighed.

"Don't say you're going to…"

"Go and teach him a lesson!" Joe finished for her. Winter rolled her eyes. She could literally predict what he was thinking. It was almost too simple. She sighed again.

"Revenge isn't a good thing." She told him. "You shouldn't go seeking it. All you're going to do is hurt yourself." Joe turned on her, looking her in the eyes with an anger filled stare.

"It's not revenge." He told her simply. "It's a rematch!" He stepped away and waved a hand. "You don't have to come if you don't want to. But I'm going to go and show him who is really the better trainer." He turned and ran out of the pokémon centre, his pokémon back on his belt and Ralph following close after him, looking concerned. Winter massages her scalp with annoyance and stress. He always had to ignore her. Why did she even hang around him? Because he was nice? She tried to think up the real reason. What she decided on made her blush slightly. She followed after him, still shaking her head.

"One day he's going to run head on into a brick wall." She thought. "And on that day I won't be there quick enough to dig him out again."

* * *

"No, Frank, that's not how you set up a leaf net trap!" Ruby shouted. Her pudgy fleshy companion shrugged and looked at her.

"It looks okay to me." He called back, tapping the sticks wrapped in leaf bind under him. Ruby sighed.

"Yes, but the bait is meant to go on the net and you're meant to be up in the tree. Not the other way round."

"Oh."

Frank stepped back off the net of breakable sticks. Under that was a small pit which he had been digging for the last few hours, almost through the night. It wasn't deep enough for a person to get stuck in but any small pokémon wouldn't be getting back out. Frank had wanted to put sharp spikes in the bottom but apparently that was too barbaric. They were there to catch pokémon. Ruby rubbed her hands and admired her… Frank's handiwork.

"Good job." She said, actually being serious with her praise. Frank smiled.

"Thank you, Ruby." He said gratefully.

"Now all it needs is a nice covering of leaves." She continued. "That'll hide it nicely." She looked around. "No, where's that other idiot got too?" She asked. Frank shrugged.

"Ross went into the forest to find…" He stopped. "Actually I can't remember what he went to find. It must have been something important."

"Yeah." Ruby agreed, rubbing her chin. "If it's not then I'll… I'll… do something!" She fell short of trying to make a threat. She had run out of valid ways to threaten her team mates. There was only so many times 'I'll hit you!' will work before they start realising that 'No you won't!'. She dropped her arms to her side again. "Just go and find some leaves to put over this net, will you." She ordered. Frank pulled of a very American salute with his short pink fleshy limb.

"Right-o, Ma'am! I'll get on it in a jiffy."

"Stop taking the pi…!" Ruby was about to say, before realising that Frank didn't actually care. Instead she just decided to stand around, waiting for Ross to turn back up. It was a tough, strenuous, but most of all, boring job sometimes being the boss of a group of idiots.

* * *

Joe ran down the street towards the forest at the west end of town. His feet moved so fast they hardly stepped on the floor once. Winter followed after him, holding tightly onto her bag as she tried to catch up to her friend. Ralph was moving faster than the both of them. He was already waiting at the entrance to the woods. Joe reached his flying purple friend eventually, out of breath and struggling to stand. He smiled at Ralph. Ralph just looked back concerned. Winter then arrived, looking even more out of breath and struggling worse to stand on her feet. She wasn't too happy.

"Joe." She said. "Joe, you can't just go running into a forest, looking for a trainer you battle expecting a rematch. Who's to say he's even still in there?" Joe looked at her.

"I know he is." He said simply.

"How?" Winter asked.

"I just know!" Joe answered. "I can feel it. He needs to be taught a lesson and I'm willing to be the teacher." With those words he was gone, running into the woods in front of him. Winter and Ralph both sighed at the same time. This was becoming ridiculous now. It was almost a hobby for him to run of like this and leave them behind.

"We'd better get after him quick." Winter told the large bat beside her. "Before he hurts himself… or someone else."

Joe ran deep into the forest. He couldn't tell where he was going. He didn't know when or how he was going to find this trainer. All he knew is that he was here. It was a fact. He could feel it in his gut. It was a primal feeling, like what ancient hunters would have followed while tracking down a wild deer or something like that. He pushed past branches and bushes, scarring his hands on the sharp sticks but he kept pressing on. He could here Winter and Ralph not too far behind him but he kept going, not thinking of stopping to let them catch up. He needed to do this. They were just getting in the way. He couldn't wait for them. They'd have to catch up.

Suddenly a little voice at the back of his mind spoke up. _Why do you treat your friends like this? They're just looking out for you. Why do you turn them away?_

"Because they get in the way. I don't like having to push them away, but it's for their own good. Well, maybe not Ralph, I need him close of course. But Winter..." He told his mind.

 _It's because you feel for her, isn't it._ His mind said back. _You don't want her to be hurt like you have, like you will be. You're afraid of losing her if she gets too close to you. You're a child with a heart of glass and a brain of plastic, holding a revolver for the first time and you don't know how to pull the trigger and aim at the same time._

"Shut up!" Joe shouted at himself. His thoughts were getting to him. "All I'm interested in right now is finding this Silver guy and teaching him a lesson. I'm not interested in talking about my feelings towards my friends."

 _A lesson? Like what?_ His mind asked. _That you're really the better trainer? I think him beating you already proved that, didn't it? Sometimes revenge is a dish best served never. He's not a person you should waste time on._ _ **So why are you?**_ Joe didn't know how to answer that. He was quiet for a while.

"Just be quiet already." He said finally. He got no response. His thoughts had stopped torturing him for now, but something suggested at some point they'd come back. He quickly realised that he had slowed down his run. He had been focusing too much on his own thoughts. He suddenly realised that Winter and Ralph were almost right behind him. How had they caught up? Why had they caught up? He'd wanted them to give up, but they hadn't. He really did have some stubborn friends.

"Joe, please, stop!" Winter called to him. Joe slowed to a halt, finally stopping in a small patch of open area between a few trees. He rested against the thin stump of a larch tree as Winter and Ralph finally caught up. Joe was surprised that Ralph hadn't reached him much sooner. It seemed he'd stuck with Winter to help her keep running. Joe was surprised. That was a surprisingly kind thing for him to do. He noticed Winter's glare at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked. The outburst he got as a response made him jump.

"Okay? Okay!" Winter yelled. Joe shrunk back from her anger. "No, I'm not okay!" She continued. "I've just run through a thick forest trying to stop you doing something stupid. You know how tough that is?" She asked.

"The forest isn't that thick or tough to navigate." Joe told her.

"Not the forest, you!" She snapped. Joe looked surprised. "Why do you have to keep running off and leaving me behind? Don't you see I'm trying to help you, as I always have been, yet you just push me aside, thinking you can do this all by yourself. Well you can't! You really can't!" She stepped back, calming down a little and breathing in deeply from exhaustion of running and talking. "You don't think, you just rush in head first, ignoring anything I have to say. Why do you even have me around if you're just going to not listen? You hardly look at me like I'm a friend anymore, you never listen and you always have your focus on something else. Why can't you just acknowledge me for once in your damned life?!" She stopped, looking away, tears clearly in her eyes. Joe felt awful. He knew he'd been neglecting Winter, but he felt he'd had a valid reason too. He didn't want her to be hurt if he was. But now he saw that this was hurting her in a different way. He gulped.

"You're right." He said, bashfully. "I've not exactly been a good friend to you recently."

"No, you haven't." She agreed. Joe rubbed the back of his head.

"But I haven't been ignoring you because I don't care. I've been doing it because I don't want you to get hurt." Winter turned and looked him in the eyes, red stains under her own eyes. "Team Rocket are back and they need to be stopped. I'm one of the only people willing to risk my own life to do so. I don't want you to be one of them. There's so much weight on me to get rid of them that I don't want you to get hurt either." He paused, trying to think of the right words to say. After a short pause he continued. "Winter, your one of the closest friends I have." He explained. "You're always so nice to me. You listen, you respect my feeling and you look out for me like a brother. I couldn't ask for a better friend. That's why I don't want to see you hurt. I couldn't stand knowing that I put you in danger every minute. That why I've been trying to leave you out. I don't want to drag you into those situations." He stopped, looking at the floor. He could here footsteps on the leafy floor in front of him. Then a pair of thin legs in long trousers stood in front of his own. He looked up into his best friends face. Winter was smiling now, her eyes still red but dry now.

"You don't have to leave me out." She told him. "I'm trying to stop Team Rocket, just like you are. Remember Kanto? We were in danger all the time and you never turned me away then. So you don't need to now." Joe smiled back. "And, know what? You need me more then I need you. So guess what, I'm sticking around." Joe grinned widely.

"I'm so glad to hear that." He told her. They stepped away, looking both a little sheepish. "God knows I need someone to pull me out of trouble." Winter chuckled.

"Yeah." She agreed. "Sadly he picked me." They laughed a little. Joe saw Ralph a few feet away pull a disgusted face. Clearly he wasn't a fan of this schmaltzy stuff. And apparently someone nearby wasn't either. They heard the comment and jumped in surprise.

"What a load of sentimental tripe." The voice said. They turned. Silver was standing, watching them from a few feet away, his totodile at his side and a few stick bits in his hair. He tilted his head. "Why don't you two just kiss and get it over with?"

"Excuse me, but what concern is it to you to interrupt me and my friend from our talk?" Joe told him sharply, seeing winter's reddening face. "Why are you even bothering us in the first place?" Silver saw the angry glare he was getting and crossed his arms.

"I heard the shouting and I came to investigate, hoping to find a weakling trainer to fight again. Unfortunately all I found was you three again." He added the last bit with a dollop of spite. Joe growled.

"You ought to watch what you say." He warned the arrogant boy. "It'll land you in trouble one day." Silver snorted loudly.

"What's wrong? Still crying over your loss to me?" He asked. Joe clenched his fists and strolled forwards, towards the young man opposing him.

"Know what. Let's have a rematch. Right here, right now, me vs you!" Silver narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think so." He said and turned to go.

"If you win I'll hand back cyndaquil." Joe added. Silver stopped. He slowly turned his head back around.

"What makes you think I want that puny thing back?" he asked. Joe didn't show any emotion on his face except blunt anger.

"Your reaction yesterday does tell me something." He explained. Silver tilted his head. Suddenly Joe heard the little cry of Casey in his backpack and he felt the small egg pokémon move about. "What…?" He asked as he looked back. Casey's head poked out and giggled at the world.

"Togi?" He asked, happily. Joe looked at Casey, trying to hold back a smile. He turned to see Silver looking at the baby in his opponent's bag. He seemed to have an idea, and considering who he was it wasn't a good idea. Then he spoke up.

"Alright." He said. "I accept your rematch challenge, on one condition of my own." Joe didn't look to keen now.

"Okay, and what's that?" He asked.

"If I win I take your togepi instead." Silver told him. Joe looked both shocked and disgusted.

"No." He said outright. "He's a baby. He's not yours to take. I'm not letting you even think about treating him like you treat your own pokémon." Silver shrugged.

"No togepi, no rematch." He said simply. "Sorry to hear that you're such a great coward." He turned to go again.

"Alright." Joe called. "Alright. I accept your terms." Silver smiled.

"Good." He said.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Winter asked. Joe didn't look back at her. He took up a ready stance to fight.

"I'm teaching a lesson." He explained simply. Silver and he narrowed their eyes at each other, waiting for the other to make a decision or a move that would start the battle.

 _Revenge is a dish not worth serving._ Joe's mind told him. _But if you're going to serve it, serve it piping hot so that you burn the one it's served to!_

* * *

Joe reached for a pokeball. Silver did the same. They held their first choice pokémon in their hand like a primed grenade, counting down the seconds to detonation. Then they threw.

"Go, Mar!" Joe called.

"Go, Hoothoot!" Silver called.

The two pokeballs struck the ground close to their trainers and released the two pokémon, one a hoothoot, the other a marill. They looked around, spotted their opponent and focused their attention onto them.

"Hoothoot, use tackle!" Silver commanded. Hoothoot hopped forwards quickly on one foot, flapping its tiny wings as it did so, attempting some kind of flight.

"Mar, use water gun!" Joe called. Mar's cheeks inflated and he fired a small jet of water into the nocturnal bird's face. Yet Hoothoot still came in with its attack, ramming Mar with its side and knocking him back. Mar rolled over and back onto his feet with little effort. "Tackle it back!" Joe called. Mar rushed forwards and charged into Hoothoot with full force, knocking it back. The one legged bird jumped back as it was hit, causing it to spin in the air slightly and land like a spring toy. It hooted in surprise.

"Get back at it!" Silver shouted. "Use peck on its puny little head!" Hoothoot obeyed, but ignored the bit about the puny little head. It jumped forward after regaining its balance and concentration and attacked Mar, jabbing at him with his short beak.

"Dodge it!" Joe called. Mar evaded the attack by stepping back just in time. Hoothoot pressed in for another. "Tackle it!" Joe called. Mar rammed himself into Hoothoot's chest as its beak came striking down. Both attacks hit and both attacks did some good damage. Hoothoot was hit back by the force Mar had created, causing it to stumble on its one foot. Mar recoiled a little from the attack he had received, too, but nowhere near as much.

"Hypnosis!" Silver yelled.

"Shut your eyes!" Joe commanded. Mar shut his eyes tight, covering them further with his small arms and rolling up a pudgy blue ball, doing his best to stop him ever looking at the opponent's eyes. Hoothoot's eyes glowed red and pink as it focused unblinking on its curled up opponent.

"Press harder!" Silver shouted.

"Stay strong!" Joe called. Mar stayed rolled up. Hoothoot jumped closer, still with glowing eyes. Then, when it was close enough, it lunged and knocked Mar rolling backwards with a strong tackle. Mar rolled about like a small blue plastic ball, wailing a little from the surprise.

"Tackle it again!" Silver yelled. Hoothoot jumped in for another attack. Mar spun on the spot now, still rolling, but not moving. Then, to their surprise, he sped forwards, rolling freely and speeding towards Hoothoot with no obvious force pushing him. "What?" Silver exclaimed. Hoothoot attempted to avoid the incoming blue bowling ball, but couldn't. When Mar struck, he struck with the force of an explosive boulder, knocking Hoothoot over like it was a feathery bowling pin.

"Wow." Joe said, quite surprised.

"How'd he do that?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"I don't know." He told her. "But he should do it again!" He turned back to the battle. "Again, Mar!" Mar spun around after heading of a little and rotated rapidly on the spot. He gained speed then darted forwards in his rolling ball of aqua blue and the hanging bauble tail out of the end. Hoothoot had barely gotten back up before it was hit again in the back this time and knocked flat onto its face. Mar rolled over it like a steamroller but with the speed of a Ferrari and kept on going till he turned around and came in again for a third attack.

"Tackle it down, you dumb ass fat freaking bird!" Silver yelled. He noticed Joe and Winter looking at him, stunned by what he was saying. "Stop looking at me!" He shouted at them now. They backed up. He turned back to the battle. "Come On!" He yelled. Hoothoot got back up and jumped into Mar's now incoming attack. The two struck each other and both were sent skidding backwards across the forest floor. They both lay face down on the grass. Neither got back up. Joe quietly sighed while Silver audibly exclaimed. He kicked and yelled at the floor. "Goddamn it!" He roared. "Stupid load of dumb ass ridiculous lump of malting feathers. Why'd I put any hope in you, you idiot pile of…" Joe and Winter were aghast. They couldn't believe the words he was calling his pokémon, his defeated pokémon no less.

"This guys an animal!" Winter whispered to her friend.

"More like a barbarian." Joe told her. "He can't keep doing this. It's just wrong."

"What do you intend we do to stop him?" Winter asked. "He's a trainer like us, not some criminal super villain." Joe didn't know truthfully.

"Something will come up." He said eventually. "Hopefully." He added. Focusing back on the battle now that Silver had finished his angry rant, he withdrew Mar from the battlefield and clipped his pokeball back to his belt. Silver eventually did the same, not before giving his pokeball a glare however. He picked out his next of the three pokeballs and, sadly, he'd gone for one of the toughest of his three pokémon.

"Go, Gastly!" He called. His pokeball dropped through the air and released the floating ball of black and grey gas with eyes. It cackled evilly and shrouded itself in the noxious gas emanation from the mist around its body. It was Joe's turn now to send out a pokémon.

"Go Quill!" He called and released his pokémon out into the battlefield. The ball opened and released his fire mouse onto the leaf covered field. Quill looked at Gastly and almost cowered. "Stay strong. It's only a floating ball of gas." Joe whispered, trying to encourage his pokémon. For the most part it seemed to work. Quill toughened up, preparing to deal with the worst Silver and his pokémon could hand out. Silver clicked a finger, looking unhappy and uninstructive.

"Deal with it!" He commanded. Gastly cackled and faded away. Quill looked around in confusion.

"Keep an eye open and an ear out." Joe warned. "Don't let it take you by surprise." Quill did so, turning slowly in a circle, looking at the whole area around him. The Gastly reappeared to his side, its tongue lolling out of its mouth as it came in to attack.

"Take it down!" Silver commanded. Gastly floated in and tried to strike Quill with it hanging tongue, but Quill darted back, avoiding the strange attack.

"Ember it!" Joe called. Quill fired a small flicker of fire from his snout and at the floating ball of gas. The attack hit Gastly in the mouth right as it began to cackle. The flame disappeared down its throat. It stopped, mid laugh, and began choking and coughing. It rolled and rotated in pain as it struggled to cough back out the flame. "Again!" Joe called. Quill puffed up as flames burst from the coloured holes in his back. He spat ember after ember at his opponent. Gastly cowered under the attacks, covering from them and turning its back, all the time still coughing.

"Attack!" Silver roared.

"Strike it now!" Joe called. Quill ran forwards, hoping to hit Gastly close up and knock it down for good. However the result was not too effective. As Quill arrived, Gastly suddenly spun around and knocked him aside with a lash of its tongue. Quill fell to the side and rolled back onto his feet, darting around for another try. Gastly followed after him, hopping to land another attack.

"Mean Look!" Silver yelled. Gastly stared down Quill, giving it an evil stare with its two huge white eyes. Quill slowed down a little, feeling intimidated by the huge eyes gazing at it with evil intent. "Now, attack it." Gastly evaporated then reappeared right in front of Quill, too quick for him to do anything to fight back. Its tongue slapped him in the face and burned his skin like acid. Quill squeaked in pain and surprise. Then Gastly's tongue came off again and Quill was left standing open and looking both disturbed and terrified. Then he fell forwards. The small mouse hit the floor with a light thud and fell unconscious. Joe exclaimed in disappointment. Silver merely laughed at him.

"Good job." He said, sarcastically and maliciously. "This is what you call a rematch? More like a replay. You're no better then you were the last time." Joe glared at him.

"Don't listen to him." Winter whispered, trying to calm her friend down. "That's what he wants."

"You're right." Joe whispered back. He nodded his thanks. Then he turned back and withdrew Quill from the field. "Good job, buddy." He told him. "Now get some rest." He placed the pokeball back to his side. Then he unclipped another one. "You think I'm not trying?" He asked suddenly, looking back at Silver. "Maybe you'll rethink that." Then he threw the pokeball. Pippy was released onto the field, sparking and shaking with charged up static. He was tense for this fight and clearly looking forward to it. Silver decided to keep Gastly out on the field. He had something in plan, but what it was wasn't clear yet. Joe made a first command.

"Thunderbolt!" He called.

"Curse it!" Silver yelled. Joe suddenly realised that, maybe, it was a mistake to send his pokémon running straight into battle. Pippy charged in and suddenly a huge shadow created by Gastly leached out from under it as it seemed to shrivel up in mid-air and struck Pippy in the chest with a sharp spiking feeling. Pippy flinched and tripped a little but kept his charge, gaining speed and static charge as he did so. Gastly seemed a lot weaker than before. That would explain why Pippy's first attack took it down instantly. As Pippy released his lightning bolt nearly directly in front of Gastly it struck the ghost directly in the face. And then it was gone, faded into existence. Silver withdrew the ball of faceless gas from the field, not actually looking upset by it. Instead he just clipped it back to his pocket. Before he did so, however, he seemed to place something small and diamond shaped onto the button. Joe didn't get a good look at it but it appeared he had in fact put something on the ball. It had disappeared before he could really see anything, however. Silver reached for his third pokeball, the last of the three on his belt. He unclipped it and held it in his hand.

"Looks like this is coming to an end already." Joe said, seeming quite happy. Apart from the curse laid on Pippy and the fact Silver had only one pokémon left, he felt that the odds were in his favour. Silver however seemed to have a different opinion.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." He told Joe as he prepared to throw his final pokeball. "After all. Who knows what could happen next." He pulled back his arm. "Go, Totodile!" He released his arm and let go of the ball. It flew through the air and landed, releasing the two foot tall, blue snapping crocodile pokémon. Totodile hopped from foot to foot, excited for another fight and clearly quite happy about the idea. Pippy squared it down, picking out good points to attack it from. Then he began to flinch. The curse that Gastly had laid was kicking in. His shadow darkened and rippled. It seemed to split with every half second and his stomach fur became a darker shade of yellow. Within a minute or so it would take full hold and defeat him. Joe would have to make his attacks accurate and strong if he wanted him to survive the fight.

"Alright, Pippy!" Joe called. "Use thunderbolt!" Pippy charged his static, aimed it into his cheeks and released a long and sharply powerful bolt of sparking electricity. It arced over the battlefield and sped towards the dancing totodile. Totodile though, even though it had been dancing all this time, kept its focus right on its opponent. It jumped aside with a powerful kick of its feet just in time, narrowly avoiding the main front of the attack. As the bolt hit the ground it had been standing at it erupted, sending sparks everywhere. A few struck the dodging water croc, causing a little damage but nowhere near as much as it could have. Totodile landed and rolled, getting back onto its feet in seconds and running in to perform its own attack.

"Rage against the mouse!" Silver roared. Totodile seemed to pump up with anger and energy. It thought about the attack, about how it had hurt, and it got enraged. It focused its anger into its incoming attack and it gained strength. It ran in, its eyes now glowing a light crimson red. It lunged and punched with a small fist as Pippy watched, unmoving. Totodile struck, ripping a hole straight through the yellow mouse. And Pippy evaporated into dust. The real Pippy sailed over the surprised crocodile's head, landed and slammed it in the back, knocking it over as it snapped and yelped in surprise.

"Good work, Pippy!" Complemented his pokémon. "Now, Double Team!" Pippy took a few steps back as Totodile got back to its feet and then, quite suddenly and without warning, split into three, then five, then seven, then nine, then eleven, then thirteen. Soon there was a whole ring of static electric mice around the quite confused water croc. Totodile looked at each image and rubbed its head.

"Look for the shadow!" Silver commanded, sounding quite angry and heated. Totodile did exactly that. It quickly scanned the feet of each image, looking for a deep blackened shadow. Then it saw it. The deep black shadow. The kind that marked a cursed pokémon. It lunged. Pippy had no time to attack. Totodile lunged, mouth agape. It bit down hard on Pippy's head, trapping him in a crocodile jaw grip. He squeaked and exclaimed, pulling at his head, trying to free it, but Totodile just stood there, smiling with a mouthful of yellow mouse head. Finally, after a while of griping onto its opponent, Totodile let go again. Pippy fell backwards, landing on the ground with a suddenly weightful thunk, hurting his head and back. He rubbed the side of his face, wiping saliva of his fur and easing the bite marks Totodile had left. "Rage again!" Silver called. Before Pippy could even blink he was suddenly headbutted in the chest by the charging Totodile. It ran ahead and into the trees, Pippy handing from its tough scaly head as it charged away into the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile, unintended and completely unaware, Ross walked through the woods, trying to find his way back to his team. He had gotten lost while trying to find berries for trap bait. At this current moment he had no idea where he even was and he couldn't find anyone to ask.

"I think I'm really lost this time." He said to his nidorino, Spikes, who he'd let out of its pokeball for a while. Spikes nodded in agreement. It had tried to sniff out a way but found that it couldn't find anything. The only thing it could smell were the trees, the grass, the leaves and something delicious. Its stomach grumbled. It moaned, knowing that it wasn't likely to get anything to eat for a while. Ross groaned. "Ruby's probably furious right now." He muttered. "I know what she'll say when I get back. 'Why were you so long? Could you not find any berries on a fruitful bush? No, no excuses. Excuses are for children. Are you a child Ross? What am I saying, of course you are!'. Really annoys me when she does that." His impression of his team leader was awful but surprisingly accurate. It proved sometimes impressions don't have to be accurate to be good. He looked up. The trees weren't tall trees, not very tall at least. But if he was sitting at the top of one he may have a good enough view of the land to make it all out. "Hmm." He pondered. Then he turned to his pokémon. "Maybe we could climb one of these trees and…" His thought was interrupted by something small and blue charging through the bushes straight past him, giggling and yelling like a police siren under water. On top of it a rather terrified looking Pikachu was carried along with it, hanging from its huge mouth like a nose ring. Ross watched it charge past and run away into the jungle of oak trees. When it was gone he turned to his pokémon. "What on earth was that?" His pokémon shrugged.

"Rino?" It told him.

"Huh. I don't know either." Ross looked back at where the Totodile had gone. "Maybe it's a circus stunt." He guessed. A second later another load of creatures came running past, ignoring him completely. The first was a human, a young boy with red hair. Behind him followed another boy, this one with brown hair and a black hat, and a slightly small crobat. Behind them chased a girl of the same age, with long ginger hair.

"Where are you going, you stupid reptile!" The redhead boy yelled as he chased after the charging pokémon and the charged pokémon that had passed by a few seconds before.

"Pippy!" The brown haired boy yelled, looking quite concerned as he followed after the pokémon and the first boy.

"Cro!" The crobat agreed. The girl ran past, huffing with exhaustion.

"Well this is just going great." She could be heard moaning as she ran past. "Some rematch this is turning out to be." Ross watched them run past and disappear into the woods after the first two pokémon. A few seconds after they were gone he turned back to nidorino.

"How odd." He said.

"Ni." Nidorino agreed. There was a short, confused silence.

"We should follow them, to see where they're going." Ross said, a small grin on his face.

"Ni!" Nidorino agreed loudly. The two of them smiled. Then they ran off, following after the running trio of humans and there overgrown bat.

* * *

Totodile kept charging and charging, Pippy hanging on for dear life onto its head, the pain from the attack now gone but still tensed for the most likely incoming one. Totodile couldn't see where it was going because of the pikachu on its head, but somehow it was avoiding running into any trees. It was like watching something out of a Saturday morning cartoon on TV. Who knew when they would stop?

Meanwhile, not too far away from the charging reptile, Ruby and Frank were waiting not so patiently for their teammate to get back. They had finished the trap but had no bait. So they sat around it, waiting for something, anything for happen. Unfortunately their wish came true.

Right as Ruby was about to say "So where's that daft male human teammate of ours who can't do anything got to?" when suddenly a two foot tall water lizard and a rather surprised and understandably frightened pikachu came charging out of the forest in front of them and straight though the middle of them. They ran passed and over the trap. It did not go off.

"Now what the hell?" Frank complained. "It didn't break under their weights? Now that's just shoddy building work."

"Frank, you were the one who made it." Ruby reminded him, also seeming a little annoyed that it had failed to work.

"So?" Frank argued back. Then he thought for a second. "Oh wait." He suddenly realised. Neither of them had any chance to say anything else before three trainers and a crobat came running in, following after the charging pokémon who had just come by.

"Totodile, heel, now! Stop! Cease! Desist! Freeze! Bad Toto! Bad Toto!" The first one, a new redheaded boy shouted with rage as he ran after his pokémon, clearly the blue crocodile he had referred to as 'Totodile'. Behind him closely followed the other two trainers, who, sadly, Team Ace recognised.

"Oh boy!" Frank exclaimed, not too excited and more mocking excitement. "It's you three again." Joe just gave them a glare as he passed by.

"Now isn't a good time." Winter told them. "We're kind of in the middle of something at the moment. Come back later and maybe we'll actually care about your annoying us." Ruby huffed offended.

"Put down my pokémon!" Joe yelled at the water lizard as he reached the fight. Totodile had finally stopped and begun hammering the still hanging on pikachu into the closest tree. Pippy refused to let go, grabbing hold of Totodile's eyelids and gripping them strongly in his paws. This caused Totodile to scream in pain and ram harder and faster. This battle was getting insane.

"Totodile, stop. Put that pikachu down!" Silver called.

"Pippy. Let go of Totodile's eyes!" Joe instructed. Both pokémon kept a hold.

Ross finally arrived on the scene, soon after the trio did, breathing heavily and panting.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ruby asked him loudly. Then she waved a hand before he could even answer. "Actually I don't want to know. Have you seen what's just come charging through our trap?" She asked.

"Of course I have." Ross told her. "I was following it here!"

"You brought them here?" Ruby asked.

"That's not what I said." Ross argued back.

"Can we forget the argument right now and get out of here!" Frank shouted. "I don't want to be in the middle of two fight, one of which is likely to get quite nasty any second now." He was not talking about the totodile fighting the pikachu. Ruby huffed.

"Alright, Frank." She said nastily. "Let's go." Forget the whole catching pokémon bit and just run of like a group of cowards."

Yep, that's us. Now let's go!" Frank pressed them on. Team Ace disappeared into the shadows of the late morning forest, leaving Joe and his friends to bicker and fight.

"Knock it out!" Silver yelled, clenching his fists and leaning into the fight. Totodile rammed harder.

"Spark it!" Joe shouted over the large amount of sound, also leaning in closer. Pippy sparked with static and released a thunderbolt close up into Totodile's face. The two foot tall blue aquatic reptile fell backwards, holding his eyes, Finally Pippy was free. He dropped to the ground, weakening but just about able to stand. He still had one good attack left in him. "Slam!" Joe yelled. Pippy got to his feet, glared at the still stunned Totodile, and charged, running on two feet.

"Look out!" Silver called. Totodile opened its eyes just in time to see the furry yellow sparking missile flying towards him. But it was too late to do anything about it. Pippy struck him in the chest, knocking Totodile over and onto its back, leaving it rocking on its sails. Pippy landed on all fours, breathed heavily and looking quite proud of himself, his body pumping with blood and energy. Then he collapsed, exhausted. The curse had finally finished him, as had the numerous headbutts to the chest while against a large tree. He was done for this fight. Joe sighed, not upset but in fact very proud. He withdrew Pippy.

"You did amazing today, buddy." He said, holding the pokeball of one of his oldest pokémon. "That's the best fight you've put up in ages. You deserve this rest the most." He put the pokeball back to his belt. Totodile finally flipped itself back onto its feet, getting back up, weakly and clearly exhausted, but still able, somehow, to fight. Silver was looked at Joe, quite surprised.

"Your pikachu just lost dramatically." He told him, looking almost insultingly stunned. "He didn't stand a chance once Gastly had cursed him. Why are you praising him?" Joe looked at Silver like he was an alien asking a simple question.

"Because he put up a good fight." He explained.

"But he didn't win." Silver argued.

"He didn't need to win to put up a good effort." Joe explained. "He tried and he did very well. So he didn't win. So what? I'd rather my pokémon try their best and loose rather then not try at all and win." Silver looked as if he had said something incredibly blasphemous.

"How can you think like that" He asked. "How could any trainer think like that? Wining a battle is trying! That should be all that's important." He crossed his arms, ending this conversation. "Now are you gonna send out your next pokémon or not?" He asked. Joe looked at him unhappily. He reached for his last of the four red pokeballs on his belt. He unclipped it and gripped it in his hand. He threw it through the air. The pokeball went through the air like a smoothed rock and landed lightly like it was made of foam. It popped open and released the small green root plant chikorita onto the field. Leaf glared at its former confrontation, Totodile and whipped his head leaf. Totodile glared back. The first time they had battle leaf had won. Who was going to win this time?

"Leaf, razor leaf! Joe called. Leaf flicked his head leaf and sent a flurry of sharp leaves at Totodile.

"Water gun!" Silver yelled loudly. "Totodile spat a huge gulp of water at its opponent, hitting Leaf in the face and causing him to flinch. Leaf's razor leaf attack hit Totodile in the chest and that was the end of it. Totodile blinked, fell backwards, and hit the ground, unconscious. Joe cheered for joy.

"Yes!" He shouted, hugging Ralph. "Yes! Yes! I win! I totally win! In your face, Silver!" He threw the bird at the boy. Silver just shrugged.

"No you didn't." He said simply. Joe stopped, still smiling, and looked at his opponent.

"What?" He asked, confused by his comment. "Yes I did. Totodile was the last of your pokémon. I just defeated it." Silver shook his head.

"No you didn't." He said again.

"Yes I did!" Joe said back, getting louder. Silver withdrew Totodile from the field and turned to face Joe. As he did so he clipped Totodile's ball back to his belt and unclipped one of the others.

"No... You... Didn't!" He said again. The held the pokeball out with a suddenly moving arm and released the pokémon inside. Onto the field, in front of Leaf, taking him by surprise, reappeared the once defeated but now back in action Gastly. Joe was open mouthed.

"What?" He asked. "But I beat it already!" He complained. Silver looked at him pitifully.

"Honestly? You've never heard of a revive before?" He asked, sarcastically and coldly. He laughed meanly. "Of course you haven't. A weakling trainer like you probably doesn't know what a simple potion is used for. P.S: You don't use it as a bath salt." Joe clenched his fists.

"That's not fair play!" he argued. Silver shrugged, completely unconcerned.

"So?" He argued back. "Life's not fare. Deal with it!" He looked at Gastly. "Start with lulling our little plant friend to sleep again, will you. Gastly nodded to its master. Joe looked helplessly at Leaf. Leaf looked back, quite scared. Then he saw Gastly glaring at him, its eyes glowing brightly. The next thing he knew was infinite blackness. Leaf collapsed to the ground, snoozing quietly. Joe sighed. Silver smiled. "Good." He said, giving a small evil grin that matched his pokémon's. He turned to Joe. "Now it's 1 Vs 1." He said snidely. "Think you still got the balls?"

"I've got the pokeballs." Joe wittily retorted, looking at Silver, not smiling. He gave him a glare of pure discontent and hatred. "But I don't need them." He continued. He put a hand on his crobat's shoulder. "I've got Ralph." He turned to Ralph to see his own sterner face aimed at Silver as well. "Are you in?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded.

"Cro!" He said. Joe smiled at him.

"Good." He turned back to Silver. "You want a fight?" He asked. "Well now you've got a good one." He looked at Gastly. "Take it down!" He commanded. Ralph shot forwards, flying like a purple arrow at the grey-black ball of gas. He struck Gastly in the face and sent it spinning.

"Hypnosis!" Silver commanded.

"Shut eyes now!" Joe counter commanded. Ralph closed his eyes, using his ears to see the world with echo location. Gastly watched the shut eyed bat fly around above it.

"Lick!" Silver commanded. As Ralph got closer Gastly floated in, its tongue hanging out as it tried to attack the fast, evasive crobat. Ralph, however, was too fast for it. He step past, striking Gastly in the face with a steel wing. Gastly spun around in the air like a rotating black gassy billiard ball.

"Fly! Now!" Joe yelled, the intenseness of the battle fuelling his drive. Ralph swooped up into the air, then dived down, charging at Gastly. The ghost pokémon could do nothing to save itself. Ralph flew in and rammed into it, smashing it through the forest and through several trees. They finally stopped after at least half a kilometre of charging, stopping in a large clearing of trees. Here there was sunlight illumination the place. Ralph stopped, holding Gastly in his huge wings. The two pokémon glared at each other. Gastly tried to hypnotise Ralph again but Ralph simply shrieked in its face and shook it, causing it to stop. The ball of gas was left helpless hanging from his huge wings. Joe arrived, closely followed by Winter, then Silver.

"Get out of its grip and take it out!" Silver was shouting.

"Ralph, finish this!" Joe called. Ralph turned back to Gastly who was looking terrified. He looked at its face and saw genuine fear. So he did something that surprised both trainers and pokémon. He let go of Gastly and turned away. Joe, Winter and even Silver gasped. "Ralph, what are you doing?" Joe asked, both kindly but also shocked. Ralph simply flew away slowly, leaving distance between him and his old opponent. Gastly looked at him, completely stunned. The fight was over. Ralph had declared it so. Silver was not so willing to agree.

"Take it down while its back is turned." Ralph shut his eyes and slowed his breathing. He waited for a responding action. Gastly thought what to do for a second. This pokémon had just let him go. Why would it do that? Was there something more important at stake here, not just battling but a sense of morality? It thought for a good while. Then it charged. It sped at Ralph like a ghostly cannon ball. Then, just as it was about to strike, Ralph turned. His teeth came down and he bit into the ghost ball. Gastly gasped. Its eyes widened. It's mouth fell open. Then it began to evaporate. Its eyes glazed over and shrank away. It mouth elongated around its body, slowly covering it up till finally both lips touched again and Gastly was gone. The only thing left to show where it was, was a large cloud of grey gas. Silver looked stunned.

"How?" was the only word he was able to say. "How? How?" Ralph flew back over to Joe's side and smiled quite proud.

"Good job Ralph." Joe congratulated him. "That was an amazing final blow. I wish it hadn't had to end like that, but you did a good job all the same." Ralph smiled at the complement.

"Is it over now?" Winter asked, standing at the side and looking quite tired of all the fighting. Joe and Ralph smiled at her.

"I think it is." He said. There was the sound of a pokeball withdrawing a pokémon. They turned to see Silver standing where Gastly had been, his arm out and the pokeball in his hand. He was looking poker faced. He didn't stay that way for long.

"It's over?" He asked. He turned slowly to look at the two trainers. "It's over!" He suddenly exploded in anger. "Of course it isn't over!" He yelled. "You beat me twice, both times using weakling pokémon! How do you do this? How is it possible? My pokémon are a hundred times better than yours. How do you keep winning?" Joe looked at him. He was actually feeling a small amount of pity for this irate and mislead trainer. Winter stepped in.

"Maybe you should focus less on the skills or the power of your pokémon and more on the pokémon themselves. What have you done to earn their trust exactly?" She asked him. Silver glared at her, suddenly taking his anger out on her.

"Shut the hell up!" He hissed. "You stupid pointless useless pathetic irritation incompetent unprofessional unsatisfactory…!" He was so angry that he decided he had a need to punch something. So he took it out on a small wooden shrine near the centre of the clearing. As it turned out this was a big, big, big mistake.

Silver ran over to the shrine and punched it straight in the centre. As soon as his skin touched the wood a sudden wave of pink energy flew out, striking him in the chest and sending him flying. Silver flew back and struck the ground a few feet away from Joe, Winter and Ralph. He did not move or attempt to get back up. The remaining kids stared in amazement and surprise at what was going on. They couldn't believe what they were seeing, or what they were hearing. As soon as the wave had ruptured out of the shrine it began to shake and glow bright pink and green. Unnatural golden light came from within. A loud explosion of deep booming sound echoed around them. They exclaimed in pain and covered their ears as the sound got louder and louder. Ralph winced in pain. Joe and winter struggled to say anything over the massive sound waves.

"What is that?!" Joe asked.

"How should I know?!" Winter asked back. Their voices were deafened out by the incredible ruckus. And then, suddenly, the sound changed. This new sound was high pitched and pain filled. It sounded like the loud cry of a living thing. The cry got louder and louder, but more ear piercing then the last. This cry physically hurt the ones who heard it. And then it suddenly stopped, cutting of, allowing with the rumbling and the shaking. The glow from the shrike faded away as it stopped shaking. Something small burst through the roof and flew upwards in a glistening rainbow of pink and green. Before anyone could even see it, it was gone, disappearing into the sky. Quickly the colours faded, the sounds fell quiet, the glistening stopped and even the roof which had just been broken somehow fixed itself. Everything went eerily quiet again. Joe, Winter and Ralph stood looking at the standing wooden object ahead of them. They didn't blink. They didn't breath. They didn't even think.

"What just happened?" Joe asked.

"I have no Idea." Winter told him.

"Cro-bat!" Ralph added.

"Let's hope…" Joe told them. "That it never does that again." They nodded in agreement. That's when they noticed Silver lying a few metres away. He wasn't moving, but they could see him still breathing.

"Do you think he's okay?" Winter asked.

"Who cares?" Joe told her. "Let's just get out of here before whatever that was decides to happen again." Winter looked at him.

"We can't just leave him here." She told him. "He could be really badly hurt."

"Like I said, who cares? He's a horrible person to all of us, so who's going to miss him?" Winter stared at her friend.

"How could you, of all people, say that?" She asked. Then she ran off, towards the sprawled out redheaded trainer.

"Winter!" Joe called out after her. She ignored him. Joe sighed. He followed after his friend, Ralph close by his side. Winter stopped and knelt down by the unconscious trainer's side. The first thing she did was check his pulse. She felt the light 'thump, thump' of his pulse as she placed her fingers to his neck and she sighed. His heart was still pumping. The second thing she did was call in a nurse, releasing her chansey, Lucky, from her pokeball and letting her check him out. Lucky looked at the trainer and immediately started throwing gestures. It was at this point Joe caught up. "Is he okay?" He asked. Winter nodded.

"He is, or at least he's going to be." She told him.

"Perfect. Now let's go." Joe said.

"We can't leave him here." Winter argued. "He needs a doctor. We should take him to the nearest house we can find and find him someone who can help." Joe didn't like the sound of that. "Joe!" Winter snapped. "Please help me with this."

"Oh all right." Joe agreed finally. "But I'm not doing it for him." He walked over and tried to lift Silver up of the ground.

"He's really heavy." He complained as he nearly buckled under the redheaded boy's weight.

"Yeah, well know you know how it felt carrying you the other day." Winter told him. Ralph chuckled and Joe gave him an unhappy glare. Then he laughed himself.

"Hehe." He said with a small smug smile. "Who's knocked unconscious now, huh?" He asked the knocked out Silver. "Now you know how I felt. I'd say that was perfect karma."

"Joe!" Winter snapped again. "Give me a hand lifting him." Eventually the two of them figured out a way to carry him. Joe held his head and upper arms while Winter took his legs. "Now let's get him out of here." Winter decided.

"Which way?" Joe asked.

"This way!" Winter said, leading on.

"Ralph, make sure she's taking us the right way." Joe whispered to his companion. Ralph nodded.

"I heard that!" Winter told them.


	10. Chapter 10: The Attack on Day Care

Silver awoke some time later. The first thing he saw was the blue afternoon sky above him. The second thing he saw was Joe's face.

"Whaaa!" He exclaimed jumping almost out of Joe's grip. "What the hell is going on?!" He yelled.

"Oh great. He's awake." Joe muttered, looking at Winter.

"Silver, just stay calm." Winter instructed the grumpy and unkind trainer who was now panicking in their grip. "We're trying to help you. We were making sure you weren't really hurt."

"Put me down!" He shouted at them, trying to break out of Joe's arms. Joe could feel his grip loosening.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that." Joe warned him. "You'll have a rather nasty…" Before he could finish Silver rammed an elbow into his gut, causing him to flinch. Joe let go of Silver. It was at this point that Silver realised how high his body was from the ground. He landed with a sudden and sharp thud onto the road. He exclaimed in pain like a little child.

"Ouch!" Silver lay on the ground for a second, recovering from the fall. Joe was also holding his bruise. Silver had hit him quite hard.

"We did try and warn you." Winter told him. Silver looked up at her.

"Where the hell am I?" He asked, really confused and lost at this point. "How and when did I get here? What time is it? And what are you two doing carrying me down some road in the middle of a field?"

"You were knocked unconscious." Winter explained. "After you punched a shrine of some kind."

"Shrine?" Silver asked.

"Yeah, a wooden one in the forest back there." Joe added in. "It kind of burst with pink light when you hit it, then you were flying backwards." Joe gave a small maliciously entertained smile of his own. Seeing someone like Silver in pain was something he enjoyed to witness.

"Well, we couldn't leave you there." Winter continued. "You could have been really badly hurt." Silver looked up at the two of them. He sat up, rubbing his bruised back.

"Why would either of you want to help me?" He asked. "I thought all you cared about was getting far away from me or teaching me a lesson?" Joe rubbed his head. Clearly he wasn't as keen on it as Winter was, not by a long shot. But he was in this situation now so he'd play along.

"Well we're not monsters." He told him. "We may not exactly like you, but we're not about to leave you when you're injured. We're not that kind of people." Silver was looking at him.

"If I were you, I would have just gone." He told him with a grim face.

"But I'm not." Joe said, giving him his own stern expression. Silver seemed to think about that last part quite deeply. His face showed signs of realisation, but truthfully it wasn't easy to tell what about. After a few seconds he looked back at the two other trainers.

"Well… thank you, I guess." He said quietly and not too keenly.

"Do you need a hand?" Winter asked. Silver shook his head.

"No. No, I can get up myself." Silver told them as he pushed himself painfully to his feet. His body was trying to reboot itself after he was knocked out by a pink light. Most bodies wouldn't know how to deal with that, as this one didn't. He finally got back to his feet, holding his shoulder and his thigh, which were hurting with spasms quite badly at this point. He took a few slow steps forwards. Then he stopped and turned back. "Thank you for looking out for me." He told them, looking a little sheepish about it. Then he turned to go.

"Where are you going?" Winter asked him.

"Anywhere." Silver told her.

"But that way's back towards the forest." She added. Silver stopped, then he turned back around and started walking the other way.

"Ok, now I'm going this way." He muttered to them as he passed.

"Do you need help?" Joe asked.

"No." He told them. Then he stopped again, turning back to look at the two other trainers. "What route is this?" He asked. Joe and Winter thought for a second.

"Route 34." Winter told him. Silver sighed.

"So Goldenrod is ahead." He muttered to himself. Then he turned to them again. "Yeah, I might need a hand."

"What with?" Joe asked. Silver looked at him.

"Well, I'm hardly doing a good job at walking right now, am I?" He told him. "My back aches and my legs move like planks. I need a hand getting there, or I'm gonna fall on my face like a spineless scarecrow." Joe and Winter walked back over to him, as did Ralph who had been watching rather entertained from the side for the whole conversation. "Just help me get moving and stop me from falling over." Silver instructed.

"Okay then." Joe told him. Then he turned away. "Ralph, help carry Silver." Joe instructed.

"Wait, you're getting your giant bat to carry me?" Silver asked suddenly. Ralph flew up behind the redhead trainer, looked at him, thought of a safe way too keep him moving, then set into action. He flew close to Sliver's back and hooked his smaller wings under his arms. "Hey, what are you doing?" Silver asked.

"Careful, Ralph." Joe warned. "Don't drop him." Ralph struggled and strained against Silver's weight, but eventually he gathered enough strength. Silver was not only moving forwards against his will, but now he was also hovering a little. He wasn't too happy by the sound of it.

"Put me back down!" Silver yelled, struggling in Ralph's grip. "I didn't want to fly today." Ralph lowered back towards the ground.

"Put him back down for now, Ralph." Ralph let Silver go as his feet touched concrete again. Ralph gave Silver some space. The irate trainer gave him an angry look from behind his hair.

"I'll walk myself from now on." He muttered, then started trudging forwards with his stiff legs. Joe and Winter followed after him, with Ralph at their side, looking rather displeased by Silver's glare at him.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Winter asked the now walking ahead trainer.

"Yes." Silver called back. He didn't turn to them or even acknowledged them for a while after. He simply kept walking, hoping to find somewhere to rest or get something to make his limbs not seized up. Joe turned to the rather unhappy Ralph.

"Don't worry about him." Joe said to his friend. "He's just a little grumpy." Ralph smiled. Them he gave an unkind glare at the trainer ahead. "I know." Joe told him. "I don't like him either, but we're helping him now, so we'll just have to get through with it. Once we do he'll go away, then we won't ever have to see him again." Ralph smiled happily. That sounded like a good promise.

Danning arrived back at the Rocket base. He had expected Crystal to be waiting for him. She'd seemed really nervous and fidgety the last time they'd met. She'd even thought Danning had betrayed her. After that small incident and a simple explanation he was innocent, she had gone away to her room. Danning had expected her to be waiting around for him. But as he got out of his jeep with the rest of his team he realised no one was around. He shrugged. He'd have to find her after he'd met with the boss. He and his team would have to explain why they failed their mission. He sighed and rubbed his head. This wasn't going to be fun.

After a long and painful talking from the boss Danning was let go, with a few new bruises down his arm. The boss had been in a good mood, that's why he hadn't used the knife. He wasn't happy when he left, however. Even though Danning wasn't to blame in this case, the leader had to take it out on someone. Fortunately it wasn't just Danning who was beaten up. The rest of the squad suffered a little too.

As Danning walked out the office and covered up his arm, he looked around at the hallway in front of him. No Crystal. He hadn't exactly been expecting her to be walking around a lot, but he'd hoped he'd have seen her by now. He walked down the hallway and into the main hall. Still he couldn't see her. Where was she? He looked around the base a little. He checked the locker room. She wasn't there. He knocked on her door. No one answered. Where could she be at? He went back to the main hall. A few grunts were walking around, so he asked them.

"Have you seen Crystal Peterson?" He questioned each one in return. Every time he did he got a shrug and a shake of the head.

"No, sorry." Then they all went on their way. Danning sighed. Where could she have gone? Had she left? Was she hiding? If she was he didn't know why. Baxter and his boys would most likely still be on their missions. Another grunt passed by.

"Have you seen Crystal Peterson?" He asked. This time he got a helpful response.

"Do you mean the young girl with the azumarill?" The grunt asked. Danning nodded. "She went out with the last group. They're going to the day care on Route 34."

"She's gone?" Danning asked.

"Yeah, like I said, she's at the day care, stealing some mons." The grunt looked at him. "Why? Were you supposed to go with them?" Danning looked back at him.

"Yes." He lied. The grunt hummed.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry you missed the ride. Don't worry. They'll probably bring you back a souvenir." Then the grunt walked off, humming to himself as he headed for the dormitory rooms. Danning thought to himself.

"Crystal's gone alone." He recounted the details. He was worried about her. She was alone, surrounded by grunts who she didn't know and they didn't know here. He worried about her confidence and about her safety. She could get lost. She could get hurt. "I hope she stays safe out there." He muttered.

The trio of friends and their new companion travelled up route 34 at a slow pace. Silver was struggling to walk a little. His legs seemed to be suffering from free-coming spasms and every now and then he'd stop, unable to move them. Joe asked himself a few times why he was helping this guy, who thought poorly of him and his team. He told himself it was because he was trying to be the better person. But there was something else. Something niggling at the back of his head. He didn't care to think about it right now. Winter gave Silver a hand, which surprised Joe. He hadn't expected her to be so caring towards him. She had seen the way he had been acting and she had been just as disgusted as Joe was. So why was she helping him now? Joe couldn't seem to figure it out, and, evidently, Ralph seemed to think the same. He was looking at Silver like he was some kind of disguised demon. He gave him the same glare he gives to Team Rocket Grunts. A stare of hatred and distrust. Joe couldn't really blame him. He felt the same way.

They walked on for a while, now and then stopping to give Silver a breather. They still had no idea what it was he'd done, or what it was that had hit him in retaliation. Joe still thought it was karma. Silver punched him in the face, so now he gets a psychic blast which does the same thing back. They managed to keep up an okay pace but it was clear Silver was struggling to keep going. They needed to find somewhere to rest, or at least drop him of till he got better so they could continue on to the next town without him. That last part was added by Joe. It got him an annoyed look from both the other trainers. They continued on, trying to keep their spirits up. Then a house came into view, alone and on the side of the road like a shrine to hope and rest. Winter sighed with relief.

"Finally, somewhere we could stop and rest." She hurried up her walk, giving Silver a hand in getting there. Joe and Ralph followed behind.

"Winter, slow down!" He called. "How do we know that these people will help? They may just send us away." She looked back at him.

"We should at least try." She said. She sped up her walk, Silver struggling to move at the same speed. As they got closer the house became clearer. It was a small building, consisting maybe of only two or three rooms, with white outside walls and a brown shingle roof and a dark oak door. Around the back of the house was a long and high standing white picket fence. Behind that was some kind of garden play area. As they got closer they could hear small animal sounds. It seemed that the owners of this house had a few pets, some of them quite big by what they could hear. They walked past it and to door. As they did so a small furry brown head popped out through the fence and watched them. They didn't spot it, but the little creature blinked and wagged its tail hopefully. They finally reached the front of the house. Now all there was to do was knock and seek shelter. Winter reached the door and stood in front of it waiting. Silver stood next to her, leaning on the doorframe. Joe reached them and he stood by Winter's other side, still not looking to sure or happy about it all. Winter then reached up a hand and tapped to doorknocker three times lightly on the wood. From inside there was the sound of high pitch barking. Then there was a following moving of objects and a small hardly audible mutter. Then the door swung open.

"Oh, hello?" An elderly, casually dressed man said, looking surprised to see so many trainers at his door. "Um, how may I help you, uh, three?" He asked. Winter bowed her respect.

"We're sorry to bother you." She told him. "But our friend here" – She looked at Silver – "Has been hurt in battle and he needs somewhere to rest till he gets better. We're too tired to make it to town at the moment. Is it okay if we rest here for a while? We won't be a nuisance." The old man looked confused at each of them in turned. When he saw Ralph floating behind Joe he gave a small gulp.

"Sure. Come on in and put your feet up for a while." He told them. "We get quite a few trainers here."

"Thank you." Winter said. The group walked in.

"What did he mean by that?" Joe wandered.

"They are in the middle of nowhere." Winter told him quietly. "It's likely they'll get tired trainers passing." They stepped inside. There wasn't a terrible amount to see. Apart from a small TV, grey sofa, side table, small dog bed and a water and food bowl there was little in the main room at all. The walls were the same colour of white and the carpet was a light green, though not the flash bright kind. The room right in front of them, however was very different. It had a brown and grey checker tiled floor and at the far end a counter, with an elderly woman behind it. To the right was a trainer PC. There was a small door behind the counter out into the garden. They could hear small barks and woofs and purrs and yaps from the doorway as they entered in. The old lady waved at them.

"Hello and welcome to the Johto Pokémon Day Care. How can we help you?" The three trainers looked at each other.

"This explains a lot." Joe muttered, more to himself then the others. The old man closed the door behind them.

"Like I said. We get a lot of trainers passing by." He winked at them and walked over to the counter. "Now is there anything that my dear partner and I can do for you?" He asked of them. "You asked for rest, but do you have any pokémon you wish to leave with us for a while?" The three trainers looked at each other, all a little confused.

"Uh, no. We're good on that front, thanks." Joe spoke up.

"Actually, if you have anything to drink, say a nice cold bottle of Coca-Cola, I'd be happy to relieve you of it." Silver butted in his own opinion. "I haven't drunk anything for the last two hours!" The old man hooted a hearty chuckle.

"Well, I don't know about any licenced products." He told him. "But I'll see what I can find." He walked out of the room, moving slowly with one foot over the other as if his lower body were a hydraulic machine. The old women smiled at the children, looking over her glasses and the counter to see them all.

"Please do take a seat." She told them, gesturing a shaking, wrinkled hand to the small tables and foam seats on the right side of the room. "You look like you need them."

"Thank you." Winter told her. The four newcomers walked with fast pace to the chairs and one by one sat down, resting their feet and bodies from the walk. Joe placed his bag by his feet and lifted out the now awake but, thankfully, not crying Casey. He held the little baby egg in his arms as the young togepi cooed happily. Joe smiled adoringly, secretly feeling exhausted. They were all relatively tired, but for different reasons. Joe and Ralph had been up a lot of the night taking care of Casey, Winter had been up because she couldn't sleep over the racket Casey was making, Casey had been up because he was crying and Silver was down because he'd been knocked out by a large blast of psychic energy. Now that they were able to sit down they were able to rest and recuperate from the day so far. Silver seemed to be especially grateful for it. He was so far into his seat he was nearly lying down flat. The old man came back in with a few drinks in his hands.

"I'm sorry, but we don't appear to have any 'Coca-Cola', I'm afraid." He said as he entered. "The best I could conjure up was a glass of water. I hope it is good enough for you." There was a hardly hidden groan from Silver as he sat up again.

"Really? Alright." He snatched the cup from the man's hand and glugged it down in three large gulps. He placed the cup heavily back on the table, causing the glass to clank and the table to shake. The old man looked at him.

"Blimmy." He muttered, quite surprised at the speed Silver finished his drink. "Looks like you were thirsty too." He passed the drinks to Winter and Joe now. They took them.

"Thank you very much." They both said as they took a small sip and placed their drink on the table.

"Would you like anything for the baby?" The old man asked Joe now. Joe looked down at Casey who was blowing bubbles. He looked back up.

"I don't know?" He told him. The old man smiled.

"A new parent, are you?" He asked. Joe shrugged. Technically speaking he wasn't the parent. It was impossible for a human to be the biological parent of a pokémon. At least so far as people knew. According to some mythology it had happened a few times before. Thankfully not in this case. No, Joe was Casey's foster father. God knows what that made Winter. A guardian? Could she technically be a foster mother if she and Joe didn't have a marital relationship?

"Yes." Joe said finally, sounding relatively tired and rather unsure. The old man smiled kindly to him.

"That's fine." He said wisely. "Many of the trainers who come here either are parents or become parents to their own pokémon. It's becoming more common in this region, and in other regions too, I hear. I think it's the government wanting young trainers to learn about child rearing before they become old enough to have their own kids. Smart idea, if you ask me, though pokémon are different to people in quite a lot of ways."

"Yet not so different in others." His wife added, joining his side and putting a warm arm on his shoulder. They smiled at each other, looking lovingly into each other's face. It was sweet that feelings like that could last well into old age.

"We can give you a small hand and a bit of rearing advice while you rest, if you want." The old man added. Joe nodded gratefully. Then he heard his stomach growl. He felt a little embarrassed. Then he heard Ralph's stomach rumble and his face turn pink. Then Casey's stomach began to rumble. Joe hoped he wouldn't start crying. He'd only been quiet for a few hours. The old man's smile grew wider. "First we'll get you all something to eat." He turned to his wife. "Sort out some sandwiches for our guests, please dear." He instructed quietly. The wife nodded.

"Yes, dear." She said. She took the empty cups and walked out into the kitchen. The old man pulled up his own seat and sat in front of the group of three children and two pokémon. He held out his hands to Joe.

"Could I hold your togepi for a second?" He asked. Joe was automatically suspicious. He backed away a little. The old man smiled disarmingly. "Don't worry. I only want to see him." Joe hesitated. He looked down at the smiling Casey in his arms. Then, gently, he passed him to the day care man. Casey lay in his arms, no longer giggling or laughing. Now he looked rather upset. He didn't like being in this new person's arms. His eyes puffed a little as he looked confused and unsure at Joe

"Pii?" He murmured, sounding confused and a little scared. The old man held him in his arms, cradling him close. Casey still looked quite afraid and on the verge of crying.

"Watch this." The man instructed. Joe watched him closely, unsure what he was going to do. The old man sat Casey on his lap gently, making sure Casey didn't try to struggle or get upset. Casey was still looking afraid. His little eyes were bulging, ready for tears at the slightest threat. Then the old man placed his now free hand on Casey's head and began to rub in between the spikes. Casey's expression fell a little. He suddenly looked a lot calmer and less likely to cry, but still rather confused at what was going on. Then the old man began to scratch behind the spikes. Casey began to burble a quiet laugh. His eyes crossed and a pleasured smile crossed his face as the old man soothed his tough head and calmed him down. Joe looked at him.

"How are you doing that?" He asked. The old man just smiled.

"Togepi sensory points." He explained. "They like a massage on the back of their spikes. It seems to help them relax." As he said so Casey began to yawn. He shut his eyes slowly and began to snore, lying back in the day care man's lap and curling up into his shell. The old man smiled at the little baby pokémon. "There you are." He explained. "He's now fast asleep. That method should help you get him to sleep if he's trouble at night." Joe looked quite amazed.

"Th-thanks." He stuttered. The old man waved a hand.

"Don't mention it." He told him. "I'm just glad to help." The old woman came back in now, holding a couple of plates with a few simple ham and cheese sandwiches on them.

"Here we are." She said as she walked in. She placed the plates on the table, giving one to each trainer and a spare to Ralph who dug in immediately. Later on he spat the cheese back out when no one was looking. What did she think he was, a mouse? The three trainers also tucked into their own food, feeling quite glad to get something to eat after the long walk there. They sat in silence for a while, chatting a bit about their journey, about their pokémon, about the job of running a day-care. Then they day care couple left the trainers to rest, heading out back to take care of the pokémon. Joe and his friends zoned out. They had nothing to talk about. Silver even let his Totodile out for a bit, just so it could get a bit of a walk about. They were all silent for a while, except for Totodile, who was running about the place like a maniac, and Silver, who was trying to stop Totodile and get it to shut up.

Winter sighed, resting her head against the table. Then she felt something tug her trouser leg. She looked down under the table. A small young brown-eyed eevee was looking back at her, her trouser leg in its mouth and paw. It smiled at her, and Winter found herself smiling back.

"Hello there." She said in a cutesy voice. The eevee tilted its head, its ears flopping to the side, a beaming smile on its face. Winter moved her seat back. The eevee moved out from under the table and sat in front of her, wagging its fluffy bushy tail. Winter found her smile widening as it gave her puppy dog eyes. "Where did you come from then?" She asked it. The little eevee pointed its nose to the right of her. Winter followed its stair and saw it looking at the doorway to the garden from behind the counter. "So you're a day-care pokémon, are you?" She asked it. Eevee nodded its head. "How long is your trainer leaving you here for, then?" She questioned. Eevee gave her a sad face and lulled its head to the side. Winter looked at it. "Do you not have a trainer?" She asked. Eevee shook its head sadly. Its tail drooped as it looked at the floor, feeling saddened. Winter stroked behind its ears, leading it to look up and smile a little again. "Who'd want to leave you behind, hey?" She asked, speaking in a cutest flap lip voice. Eevee smiled back, purring in a mixed dog-cat-fox yap.

"Please don't say you're building a bond with this little thing, are you." Silver moaned from his seat. We was lying back into his seat, looking at Winter though the hand on his face. "I can't stand that whimsical soppy crap. Life doesn't work that way. You don't just suddenly befriend a pokémon. They're just animals. They don't think or act that way, so why would you even try?"

"You've never had a pet before, have you, Silver?" Joe asked in an unkind tone. Silver looked at him.

"I never had a home for one to live in." He said back, spitefully. "I'm an orphan, not that it's important to you." Joe fell quiet. That was a sudden piece of information to learn about someone, yet Silver's tone had deterred him from asking anything about it. He had no idea how to react. Should he apologise? Should he ask him about it? He didn't know. Instead both he and Winter decided to drop the conversation. Silver clearly wasn't the kind of person who liked talking about themselves, so, to avoid an argument or another fight, they decided not to persist it. Joe sat in his seat, thinking to himself and slowly rocking Casey in his arms. Ralph perched next to him, trying to hold his eyes open but failing. Winter was happily petting the attentive eevee at her lap. Silver was lying back, his arms against the back of his head, his eyes shut, his head up. The group rested there for now, waiting as the hours passed and rain began to pour again outside.

Not long later they were woken up by the sudden sound of cars approaching, doors slamming and footsteps approaching across the road and grass. The group sat up. They look around. Someone knocked on the door.

"Another passing trainer?" Silver wondered. The day care couple came in now, their faces grim and worried. They headed for the door. They seemed to be muttering about something and, whatever it was it was serious and about whoever it was outside.

"Who is it?" Joe asked as they passed. The two elders turned to the trainers, grim faced.

"It's… Team Rocket." The old man explained. Joe's expression hardened.

"What!" He growled, staring now at the door.

"Do you have anywhere we can hide from them?" Winter asked.

"What?" Joe asked, suddenly surprised.

"I'm sorry?" Silver questioned, also hearing what she had said.

"Go round the back." The day care lady told her. "Go round the counter and out the back door. Hopefully they'll just pass on by." Winter grabbed Joe by the arm and Silver by the collar and pulled them through the doorway and into the kitchen.

"Winter, what are you…?" Joe protested.

"Come on!" She told him sharply, pulling him against his will through the doorway. She dragged her friends and… Silver, through the kitchen and back behind the counter. There she shoved them down under it and his herself. She, Joe, Ralph, Silver and Casey all hid there, waiting patiently.

"Why are we under the counter?" Silver asked.

"So we don't cause a problem." Winter explained.

"Why would we be a problem?" Silver persisted. Winter thought of how to explain it to him.

"We're not exactly on good terms with the Rockets." She told him. "Joe and I got into a couple of fights with them. They didn't go down well, for them at least." Silver looked impressed.

"Wait, you two are on Team Rocket's bad side?" He repeated her words in a sentence he could understand. Winter nodded. Silver chuckled. "And I thought you two were prissy and cowards." He muttered, still quite impressed by what she'd told him. Then his expression became confused. "Well if that's the case why are we hiding back here?" He asked. He stood up. "Let's go kick some rocket arse!" He yelled. Winter pulled him back down immediately before he could be seen or heard.

"No!" She snapped. "These people are just pokémon raisers. They're not fighters. We can't bring our battle to them. It's not fair. They might get hurt from it." Silver shrugged.

"So?" He told her. "It's not our problem. If Team Rocket are here to cause trouble I say we bring it to them."

"He's right." Joe joined in. Winter looked at him, stunned.

"Not you too." She muttered.

"Winter, those men out there wouldn't give a damn if they saw every pokémon here exterminated with gas. They're soulless monsters, all of them. Think of what they've done to us and the people we know in the past. Think of…" Joe stopped. There were two people he thought off here. One was Sting. The other was his father. Winter didn't know about him. It was better that way. And, fortunately, she hadn't picked up he was referring to him. Instead she thought he was thinking back to the one pokémon he had lost. She sighed.

"Joe, if you go seeking revenge for him, then all you're going to do is destroy yourself in the process." Her words of wisdom were unheard by her friend. Joe thumped his fist on the floor.

"I'm going to go and confront them." Joe told them, placing his bag next to him and gently shoving Casey into the top where he could stay safe. He crawled over to the open doorway into the bag garden. The pokémon there were cowering in fear. They were cowering under play sets and slides and whatever they could get under, clearly knowing that a bunch of harmful criminals were nearby. It was interesting how animal instincts worked like that when they sensed danger. Joe turned back to the other two. "You can come if you want." Winter looked at him, her head slant with disappointment. He ignored her and hurried out of the door, rushing through the light rain and over to the fence, vaulting over it with a small boost from pushing against the posts. Winter got up to.

"I'd better go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." She muttered to herself as Ralph also got up and shot past her, heading after Joe without needing to vault the fence. She stopped at the door and turned to Silver. "Are you going to lend us a hand?" She asked. Silver went to stand up when, quite suddenly, he felt his legs go weak as his tiredness suddenly came back.

"You go on ahead." He told her. "I'll catch up later." Winter rolled her eyes.

"Suit yourself." Then she left, following after Joe and Ralph, vaulting the fence and nearly catching her hair on the wooden planks. Silver sat back, stretching his legs out. He saw Casey looking at him from the corner of his eye. He turned his head and looked back. The baby togepi's head was poking out of the top of the bag like a shell crown out of a tall orange rock. Silver gave him a questioning stare.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Togi." Casey said, gurgling with a small giggle and a few bubble blows.

"Ha. That's rich." Silver muttered. "You're just a baby. Why are you surprised you're not doing anything to help?" Casey just blew bubbles. Silver rolled his eyes. Now he was talking to a baby.

"I'm sorry but we don't have any pokémon to give away." The old man said as the Rocket Grunt at the door stared him down. Behind him the other grunts shifted their feet impatiently.

"Now come on, sir." The grunt said in a mildly insidious voice. "This is a day care home right?"

"Of course." The day care man told him. The grunt nodded.

"Then surely you have some pokémon you can give away for free." The grunt persuaded, but the old man stayed adamant.

"I'm sorry but I can't just give away my pokémon, especially to you." He explained. The grunt was getting annoyed now. He crossed his arms.

"Sir, I'm asking nicely." He told him. "Either you hand over all the pokémon you care for here, or we burn your lovely little house to the ground." He tilted his head. "Which do you prefer we do?" The old man stood quiet.

Meanwhile Joe, Winter and Ralph had snuck down the side of the house and were planning what to do.

"We should jump them now!" Joe was saying.

"Don't be stupid!" Winter hissed. "What are you going to jump them with? They're several feet away from us."

"Then we need to do something. Didn't you hear them? They're going to burn the house down if we don't act."

"They don't even know we're here." Winter reminded him. "We should wait for the right time then surprise them. If we can take them down before they even release a pokémon then we could get rid of them without a fight."

"You're no fun sometimes." Joe muttered to himself. He glanced back around the wall. "Hang on a second." He said.

"What?" Winter asked. Joe looked back around, his face all confused.

"There's only three of them now." Joe told her. "There were six before. What happened to the other three?"

Silver sat back against the counter, lulling his head with tiredness. Then he heard something climbing over the fence, quite clumsily. He sat up.

"What was that?" He wondered. Casey woke again, looking on the verge of tears. "Oh god please don't cry." Silver shushed him. Casey only just kept calm for the moment. Silver crawled forwards and peeked his head round the door. He saw a small group of grunts climbing over the left side of the fence, whispering to each other and then tiptoeing carefully towards the pokémon, holding nets and traps in their arms. Silver groaned. "Great." He thought. "Now I'm going to have to take care of them." He unclipped a pokeball and looked back at Casey. "You. Stay quiet and stay here!" He instructed. Casey nodded as if he understood. Silver turned and crept forwards, hiding in the doorframe and waiting for the grunts to pass nearby.

"How many does boss need?" One grunt asked.

"As many as you can carry." Another responded.

"Why does he even need such weakling pokémon?" The first grunt asked.

"I dunno, because it's his whim I suppose." The second replied. "He doesn't really need them, I don't think.

"If we don't do it, it'll be our hides that pay for it. Quite seriously!" both grunts shuddered at the thought. The third grunt had wandered away from them, trying to get a rather terrified jigglypuff to come out from behind the slide. He was smaller than the other two, and a lot thinner. Hopefully he would be distracted long enough for Silver to take out the other two. Then he would be no problem after. The two grunts passed by the door, not noticing Silver and he quietly released his Gastly and slid on his silver glowing ring.

"Fade up behind that first guy and give him a high fall." Silver whispered. Gastly nodded and evaporated. Silver turned back to the two grunts, a small smile growing on his face. The two grunts were still talking, though now they were also working, so neither of them saw the ghost pokémon appear behind the first grunt.

"Do you feel that?" He asked.

"What?" The second one asked.

"That sudden cold spike." The first told him.

"Must be the weather." The second told him. "Cold temperatures often come with rain. And it is October after all."

"Hmm." They went back to their work. "Did you hear that?" The first grunt asked now.

"No?" The second grunt asked.

"It sounded like someone laughing quietly." The first one told him.

"It's your imagination." The second one told him.

"Maybe." They went back to their work. "Ok, now that's really weird."

"What is?" The second grunt asking, without looking at his team member.

"It feels like I'm slowly flying up. The floors getting smaller." The second grunt looked up.

"That's a weird thing to thing." He told him, turning around. "How do you even perceive… What!?" The first grunt was floating twenty feet above the ground. A small black ball was holding him by the collar.

"What?" The first grunt asked, clearly unaware of what was going on around him.

"You're flying!" The second grunt shouted.

"What?" The first grunt asked.

"You're hovering above the ground!" The second grunt repeated. "At a large distance, too." The first grunt looked down.

"Oh Christ!" He exclaimed, grabbing his suit and holding onto it tight. It was the only thing around to grab.

"How are you doing that?" The second grunt asked.

"I don't know!" The first responded. He heard a small chuckle behind him. He slowly looked around. His face stared directly into another, one that belonged to a small, spherical, gas made ghost. Gastly smiled. The first grunt cried in fear.

Silver came rushing out from the building at lightning speed. The second grunt saw him and turned, but not quick enough.

"Hey, who are…?" He said, but was stopped mid-sentence by Silver's first. His ring flashed blue on impact and the grunt hit the floor, his consciousness switching of like a light. Silver turned to the hovering grunt held in Gastly's mouth.

"Drop him!" He instructed. The first grunt was suddenly falling. He fell to earth with a terrified yell, till finally he landed. He bumped his head on the floor and he too was sent to the land of dreams and memories (A.K.A: Sleep). Silver released the rest of his pokémon. Totodile yapped happily and began dragging the two unconscious bodies into a pile. Hoothoot tried to help out, as did Gastly. Silver smiled to himself. "A job well done." He thought. Then he remembered the third grunt. He turned and narrowly avoided a flying punch. He ducked and grabbed the third grunt by the outstretched arm, pulling them forwards. They yelled in surprise. Silver knocked his feet out and raised his ringed fist to the sky, ready to knock him out too.

"Let go of my arm!" He exclaimed in a high tone voice. Silver growled.

"No way." He said in an almost laughing voice. The grunt looked up. Silver gasped. It wasn't just some grunt who he was attacking. This grunt was a girl. Not even a woman, a girl, around the same age as him. He let go of her arm. "I'm so sorry." He explained quickly. "I-I didn't… I thought you were with them."

"I am." The girl told him.

"Oh." Silver said. There was an awkward pause. The girl was reaching for a pokeball. "Uh…" Silver tried to say. For some reason his throat was sticking. He was finding it hard to make coherent sentences. "W-why are you…?" He asked.

"With Team Rocket?" The girl asked.

"Yeah." Silver said, nodding.

"Because I am." She told him, defensively. "What's it to you?"

"Oh… well…" Silver struggled to come up with words. "It's just… I didn't expect someone as… someone like you to be… well…" The girl narrowed her eyebrows.

"Who are you?" She asked. "Are you that guy who's been messing with Team Rocket for the last few months? The one with the crobat?"

"No!" Silver said, a little too quickly. "No." He told her. "He's…" He stopped. "A friend." He finished. The girl looked at him.

"Really?" she questioned. Silver nodded his head. The girl lowered her defences suddenly. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Silver." Silver told her, without thinking. The girl took her hat of, letting her long brown hair flow out over her shoulders.

"I'm crystal." She told him. Silver smiled slightly.

"That's a lov… um… That's a nice name." He told her, bashfully. She chuckled a little, too, seeing his nervous expression and shy stance. From behind her Silver could see Totodile sneaking up to surprise her. "No!" He shouted suddenly. Crystal jumped at his yell. Then she turned around. Totodile jumped up at her.

"Aagh!" She screamed.

"Bad Totodile!" Silver yelled. Totodile smiled up at him with big reptilian eyes. "Very bad! Don't do that to the nice girl!" Totodile continued to smile, clearly carefree about what its master said to it.

"Is he your pokémon?" Crystal asked him. Silver looked at her.

"Yes?" He said, unsure how to say it or what expression to give. His head was not much more than cotton and fluff at the moment. He couldn't think of good words to use. Crystal smiled.

"He's kind of sweet." She said.

"He is?" Silver asked.

"Yeah." She told him. "He's just trying to defend his master. He's adorable." She knelt down and reached out a hand to stroke Totodile. He nearly bit it. Crystal pulled away. Silver had no idea what was going on. He had no idea what to do in this situation. Here he was, talking to a member of team rocket, who turned out to be a teenage girl, a rather pretty teenage girl at that, and he was just standing there like a lemon. His instinct told him to scare her away, to send her packing back to her master. But his heart and his head told him otherwise.

"Do you… have any pokémon of your own?" Silver asked shyly. Crystal looked back at him.

"Yes." She told him. Then she looked past Silver. "Come on, Azi." She called. Silver turned. A rather timid looking azumarill climbed over the fence, walking nervously towards its trainer and her new friend. "This is Azi." Crystal said as Azi reached them. She patted him gently and stroked his head.

"He's… yours?" Silver asked.

"Of course." Crystal told him. He looked back at her, for a second meeting eye to eye. She had amazing eyes, he realised. They shone in the daylight like lighthouse beams. Crystal blushed a little. Silver looked away again.

"I was expecting a member of Team Rocket to have more… well… powerful and dangerous pokémon." Crystal shrugged.

"To be honest I don't enjoy being in Team Rocket that much." She told him. "They're all so gruff and unkind. It's all so much nasty, criminal work. I'm not that kind of person really."

"Then why are you in it?" Silver asked. Crystal fell quiet.

"I don't know." She told him, speaking truthfully.

Cutting back to Joe and Winter's perspective, the three grunts at the door were getting impatient. The one talking was tapping his foot now, clearly wanting to get inside, but the day care man was proving to be immovable.

"Now look, sir." The grunt was saying, patting his fists together. "You can either let us in or we'll bash you aside. We're not afraid to do that." He warned him. The day care man held his ground.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you inside with an attitude like that." He said sternly. "I'm not giving up any pokémon here, no matter how much you threaten me. Not to you or your boss." This was the final straw for the grunt. He turned to his friends.

"This isn't going anywhere." He told them. "Move him by force." The grunts stepped forwards. Then they heard a terrified yell from behind the house. They stopped.

"That sounded like our boys in trouble." One of the grunts said.

"Well don't just stand there." The middle one told him. "Go round and investigate!"

"They've been distracted by that cry." Joe thought. He turned back to Winter. "I say we strike now." He told her. "While they're not looking this way." Sadly Winter found herself agreeing.

"Alright, but let's not go too far. We only want to scare them away, not kill them."

"Right." Joe agreed. He looked past the wall to see two of the grunts stepping away cautiously to peek around and see what the problem was. "I have an Idea." He told her, turning back round. Winter nodded.

"Ok. What is it?" She asked. Joe pointed to her belt.

"Get your pokémon out." He instructed quietly.

The first grunt stayed in his place, still trying to break down the old man and force him to move aside. His two group mates walked around the corner, searching for what the sound was. They suspected what it had been. Their other three team members. The ones they had sent round the back to round up the pokémon while the couple living here were distracted. They hadn't expected someone to shout out. A cry for help was not something they'd been expecting to hear. They walked close to the wall. Unbeknown to them a couple of figures watched close from above. They lay prone on the thick dry shingles and looked down over the hanging gutter, waiting for the dumb criminals to walk under. When they did, the young girl, the bulky toad, the torrential starfish and the gripping seahorse dropped down, making their move.

There were another couple of cries. The last remaining grunt turned in shock. That was the sound of his men. He looked at the corner wall, looking for any signs of life or movement or anything positive.

"Jerome? Paxton?" He called. No response. The old man stepped back inside and shut the door. He knew what was coming. His aged intuition recognised a fight when it approached. The grunt turned to the sound of the wood slab slamming shut. He began bashing a fist on the wood, shouting at the couple inside. "Hey! Open Up! Let us inside!" He roared through the keyhole. Inside the couple stepped back as a large winged figure rose up outside. The grunt felt cold breath on his neck. It was slow and malicious, full of abhorrence and persistent on retribution. Slowly, turning like a china doll on a music box rotation key, the grunt spun to face the thing behind him. He stepped back into the door at the sight of the beast in his face. Ralph growled, lowering his brow and revealing his sharp fangs in a growl. His yellow eyes glared through the soul of the grunt. Then his wings were on him, grabbing the hapless grunt by the shoulders and placing him perfectly still in front of him. "Eek!" The grunt dropped a brick. Ralph stared at him, becoming fiercer by the second. His eyes slowly shifted to his left. The grunt followed his gaze. A boy was standing, watching calmly, his arms folded and seemingly holding a grudge. The boy nodded once and sluggishly.

"Ralph…" He instructed. The crobat waited. The grunt panicked. "Throw him!" He finished. The grunt gulped. Then suddenly he was being thrown backwards through the air as Ralph, the crobat, spun him around and hurled him through the air with the strength of his wings. The grunt went flying, screaming through the air like a black clothed shot put. He hit the ground like a cannon ball, creating a huge digging skid mark through the grass, leaving turned up dirt till he touched the road. Joe stepped over to his friend. "Good throw." He said, considerately. Ralph bowed a finale. There was an angry growl that came from the hurled grunt.

"Damn meddling kid!" He muttered. The grunt rolled over and sat up, his face covered with mud and steaming with anger. He reached for a pokémon. "Gonna mess about with pokémon, are we?" He asked, rhetorically, speaking with the most malice filled tone Joe had heard all day. "Alright then. You've messed with the wrong grunt today, boy." He got to his feet, releasing his two pokeballs. They released a Raticate and a Koffing. "Get 'im!" The grunt shouted.

"Go Quill! Go Leaf! Take this rocket mass out!" Joe yelled, throwing two of his own pokeballs. His two Johto starter pokémon appeared out to battle, Leaf flicking his head leaf and Quill flaring up the flames on his back. Raticate lunged, jumping at Leaf, buck teeth fangs snapping sharply. Leaf dodged aside, leaving Raticate to skid across the floor and make a scrabbling turn to return to the fight. Koffing puffed towards Quill slowly, releasing measured levels of noxious gas to raise and lower its height in the air. It looked at Quill, and he looked back. Koffing suddenly burst forward with a large expulsion of gas, flying bulk ahead at Quill's small form. The cyndaquil was in no danger, however. He spat a small ember at Koffing at the right time and at the right area. Koffing puffed up as the gas inside it ignited with the small spark. It coughed and choked, unable to fix the new problem racking its gaseous form. Then it was flying backwards, releasing a horrible flapping, rupturing sound, the kind you hear from releasing gas from a balloon. When it stopped, Koffing landed as a shell, its eyes glazed over as its ability to fight vanquished to its inability to become not ignitable. Quill smiled to himself. That had been an easy fight. He had clearly learned from the last Koffing he'd faced. Leaf on the other hand wasn't doing as good. Raticate was proving to be a challenge. Leaf could just about dodge or avoid most of its attacks, but the trouble wasn't there. The trouble was getting his own attacks to land. He tried use razor leaf but Raticate would just dart aside. He tried to use poison powder but, thanks to the direction of the wind, the poison particles were scattered and carried away from the battle, leaving the attack useless. He had smartly used reflect, which at least weakened Raticate's attacks, giving him longer to fight back, but it could only do so much and eventually it would wear off.

"Take it down!" The grunt yelled. "Take them both down! Take them all down!" Raticate gnarled and lunged, throwing itself at Leaf like an insane, rat like, rabid hound. Joe had an idea, but it was not only risky, it was practically suicidal. But it was a last resort in this case.

"Leaf, face it head on!" He called. "Tackle it." Leaf looked at him, confused. "Just do it! Trust me!" Leaf obeyed. He turned his head, causing his leaf to flail. He stared down the quickly approaching Raticate, its eyes red with excitement and destructive strength. It was a beast of power now, and, without a direct hit to a weak spot, it wouldn't stop. Leaf scrapped a plant made foot across the floor, preparing his run. Then he charged, his head lowered, ready to meet the foe, literally head on. Raticate stampeded. Leaf bolted. Both met in the middle, crashing skulls. There was an explosion of energy around them. Green energy. And, to everyone's surprise, leaf was not sent flying back in pain. Instead he held his ground, pushing back Raticate with his round skull. Raticate pushed against him, but could do nothing. Leaf's legs were rooting into the ground. His green skin began to glow florescent with solar energy. His leaf on his head extended and grew out, becoming sharped and more fearsome yet more beautiful. As all this happened his body became covered with petals and leaves, shrouding him in a flowery tornado. Raticate looked both surprised and terrified. It could see Leaf's eyes glowing and shapeshifting, becoming bigger and more intimidating. Yet still it pressed its head into him, standing exactly where it had been. Then it was flung back, as Leaf shoved his head powerfully forwards. The tornado of plant matter erupted in a flutter of petals and leaf matter. The transformation was complete. Leaf was made anew. Joe and Ralph stared in awe at what had once been a young, timid and weak chikorita. Leaf had changed so much in one second. Now he was taller, older looking, more intimidating looking and a lot more powerful. Raticate cowered as the newly evolved Bayleef reared up in its face. The grunt could only groan.

"Why does this unlucky stuff always happen to me?" He muttered. Joe pumped a fist.

"Alright!" He yelled. "Leaf, you beast!" Leaf bowed his head, not taking his eyes of his opponent. Raticate was still cowering from him. It was funny to watch. Joe and Ralph smiled to each other, cunningly, eyes gleaming with excitement. "Let's see what you can do now." Joe instructed. Leaf decided that now was the time to try out something new. He flicked his leaf as it began to glow bright. Light was absorbed into it, restoring his strength and giving him more power to his whim. Leaf returned to the fight and readied a running strike. The grunt scuttled back, his Raticate close to his side. Leaf charged. The grunt barely made it close to the jeep.

Silver and Crystal froze as they heard the sound of fighting. Their hands fell apart. Crystal suddenly became nervous, stepping away from the cute boy she had just met and rubbing her arm with nerves.

"That's my team in trouble." She told him, stepping back. "I'm sorry but I've got to go and help them."

"Don't go!" Silver cried, holding his arm out. She shook her head. He could see in her eyes the sudden raw fear. A fear of what, though? Did she fear him?

"You don't understand." She told him. "If they see me talking with some other trainer who just took out two of my team mates, I'll be in deep trouble." She shivered. "They'll send me to the boss. He's not exactly understanding."

"Wait!" Silver called. But the girl was gone, running past the fence as the two grunts Silver had taken out began to get back up. "Crystal." He whispered. The grunts stood up, looked up at him, and shuffled away, trying to get as far away as possible from this demon child with a champion punch. Silver watched them run like chickens, desperately trying to get out of the coop till finally they co-ordinated their way over the white picket fence and away to their other team mates. Silver glared at them. His mind was set into a confused state. He had no idea what was wrong with him. All his thoughts of anger and revenge and control and annihilation of all those smaller then him vanished from his mind. The only thing he could see was her. The girl. Crystal. She was… amazing. He clenched a fist. "I swear by all the gods in the sky or in the oceans or atop the mountains that I will find you again!" He yelled at the top of his heart. "I will see you again!" He looked at the floor, seeing the small piece of paper she had dropped. On it he saw a small collection of words. A name. Crystal Peterson. "I will find you again." He whispered.


	11. Chapter 11: Whitney: the Whimper

The rain began to subside. It had been twenty minutes since the Rockets attacked and fifteen minutes since they'd fled again. Again they had failed to nab any pokémon, but that lucky streak would have to end someday. But for now they were celebrating. Soon the group decided it was time to leave. On their way out they said goodbye and received thanks from the day care couple who waved them of. Joe waved back, grateful for their hospitality. At his side Ralph hovered, smiling back his own thanks. In his bag Casey was happily eating a sweetie which they'd given him and at Joe's other side his newly evolved Bayleef was getting to stretch it's new legs. Leaf had evolved in the battle against the Rocket and he seemed to so far be liking the new changes he'd received. His head leaf was longer, his body was stockier, his head was bigger, his neck was erect and the seeds around his collar had bloomed into pods. At the moment he was swishing his head about, watching the rain drops slice in half as his leaf's edge cut through them like an axe through melted butter. As for Joe's friends, Winter and Silver were also ready to leave, their own pokémon safely stored inside their pokeballs. Except for one. Winter had a new friend. The eevee she had befriended earlier had insisted on going with her. For some reason they seemed to have connected quite well and now it refused to leave her side. Winter had asked if she could keep it and the day care couple had delightedly accepted she did. The eevee himself was only too delighted. She hadn't thought of a name for him yet, but when he evolved Winter probably would come up with one then. As for Silver he seemed surprisingly quiet, but not in his usual way. Normally he was spitefully quiet, not wanting to talk or make contact with either Joe or Winter or even Ralph. But now he seemed thoughtfully quiet, as if something was on his mind. Ever since the Rockets attacked he'd been like this. He'd managed to fight of the three that snuck round the back. Maybe something had happened during that. Whatever it was he wasn't likely to want to talk about it, so Joe decided to let it be for now. It probably was nothing anyway. The group waved their final goodbye, stepped out into the light drizzle of rain and headed up towards Goldenrod City.

The walk didn't take much longer than a half hour. The city was already visible on the close horizon and within no time at all they had reached the perimeter wall and were looking in at the magnificent sky-scraping towers and the colourful houses. Joe found his eyes catching on the huge radio tower near the far end of the city, visible above all the other buildings, even the other towers which were scattered around the city like dots on a Dalmatian's hide. It was a tall building with a dark stone yet modern motif and on the flat roof were several different antennae, all aimed in different directions and most likely transmitting different things. Around it all the other buildings seemed minuscule, which they were, being mostly two floor houses built up on building lots nearby the tower. Joe found that the pure vision of it was relatively spectacular. The way it stood out alone was enough to create some form of mild awe. It was the first thing any visitor entering the city would notice, as it was the tallest. Joe pulled his eyes away and starter noticing other buildings. First he saw the pokémon centre, not too far away from the city entrance, then a huge department store which was almost as tall as the radio tower, but was a hell of a lot more colourful and bright, and finally, near the other end of the city, he spotted the gym, where the region's third gym leader resided. Joe was anticipating that their fight would be a good one. He'd heard a little about the gym leader from the day care couple and she sounded pretty tough, if maybe a little young. But today was not the day for battling. He was tired and the sun was already fading. In a couple of hours night would return to the world, and he imagined most of his team were really tired.

"What a grand looking city." Winter admired.

"Indeed." Joe agreed.

"Cro." Ralph added.

"It's only a model." Silver muttered to himself. They shushed him.

"There's so much!" Winter said almost breathlessly. "Where to first?" She asked.

"We should probably get rested up first." Joe suggested. "I'll take on the gym leader tomorrow. My team are probably really tired so I don't want to push them too hard."

"I'm sorry, what?" Silver asked, looking at him like he'd just said something incriminating to his own species. Joe looked back, confused by his sudden anger.

"We've been traveling and battling the whole day." Joe explained. "I'm exhausted. So are my pokémon. We need a rest. The gym will be open tomorrow so there's no rush in getting in." Silver continued to stare at him.

"What are you, so kind of coward?" He asked, spitefully.

"Silver?" Joe protested. "Why the sudden vindictive tone?" Silver narrowed his eyebrows.

"You wilfully decide to ignore taking on a challenge like a gym leader purely for the sake of being tired?" He snapped. "That's a weak idea for a strong trainer to have. If I were you I'd storm in there, smash up the gym leader and her pokémon and demand my badge, saying 'Thank you very much, miss!' as I stormed out."

"Yes, but you're not me." Joe told him. Silver gave a little growl.

"The point I'm making is that your attitude is cowardly." He snapped, intentionally harshly.

"And who's to say yours is much better?" Joe snapped back, raising his voice.

"A real trainer would have stormed up to that gym already and entered into a battle." Silver argued. "But here you are, standing outside, preparing to head in and take a rest. You're just a cowardly child!" Joe narrowed his eyes. He prodded a finger into Silver's chest.

"Say that again!" He growled.

"Boys, don't." Winter tried to intervene. Silver smiled maliciously.

"I said you're a no-good, weakling, timid, cowardly, battle-avoiding, Self-esteem lowering, whimpering, whining pussy cat." Silver told him. Joe clenched his fist into a ball.

"Alright!" He said. He turned around and stormed off into the city.

"Where are you going?" Winter called after him.

"To fight the gym leader!" Joe called back, storming away with his shoulders up in anger and frustration. Clearly he and Silver were never going to see eye to eye. At least Joe could prove he wasn't the weakling Silver expected him to be. "Are you coming or not?" He asked.

"I'll be over in a second." Winter told him. She grabbed her bag and patted Ralph on the shoulder. As she did so she saw Silver turn around out of the corner of her eye. "Where are you going?" She asked him, looking up. Sliver looked back, a smug expression of malicious satisfaction on his face.

"I'm going to go do my own thing." He explained. He walked away.

"What thing?" Winter asked, thorough confused.

"Catching strong pokémon would be a start." Silver called back. "And maybe find some better, smarter and stronger company. See ya!" He waved a hand back and pulled up his backpack, hiking away into the fields outside the city. Winter scoffed.

"Bloody nuisance." She muttered. She turned to Ralph who was looking back and forth between her and Joe, who was already quite far ahead, walking at a quick stomping pace. He looked concerned, and clearly wanted to get back to his friends side. Winter exhaled. "Go on. Go after him." She told him. Ralph looked at her, glad but also unsure if she was okay. "I'll follow in a second." She told him, speaking a little sweater now. "Now go on. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Ralph nodded his thanks and, with a gust of wind and a heavy flap of his wings, he sped after his original companion. Winter stood at the entrance to the city alone. She looked at the ground and sighed. Then, when she'd composed herself, she followed the two of them.

* * *

Joe burst in through the front doors of the gym, his arms tense, his face enraged but gradually growing calmer. The gym's interior was a heinous design. It was pink. Each and every wall was an interesting coat of salmon, creamy or bright hot pink, from top to bottom. They seemed to be layered, melding into each other like five different layers of jam in a thin paper sandwich. Even the stands were pink, though a lot lighter than the hot pink, which could burn a man's eyes out if he looked at it for too long. Thankfully the actual arena was the usual flattened and shines white plastic, with red outlines around it and through it for the marker points, though judging by the rest of the building's design it had probably been originally wanted to be pink as well. This gym was a girly girl's gym. Winter would be disappointed. Joe strolled into the room and took his place immediately at the podium closest, which was also, thankfully, not pink, before even consulting the gym leader, who was standing in the centre of the gym, talking with a few girls of her own age, clearly her gym trainers. They had noticed him storm in with a furious face. An aged, blind and deaf zubat five hundred miles away could have heard him enter the way he did. Three of the four girls were wearing simple red dresses, with pink bows, skirts and leggings and black tap shoes. Each of their dresses had a pokeball belt fitted into it above the skirt, with the pokeball holsters on the thigh area. As for the forth girl, what she was wearing was completely different. She had light pink hair, which was purely insane. The idea of having pink hair alone was ridiculous to Joe, but why such a bright shade? She was also wearing a light pink skirt with a pink shirt and a white jacket over it. She had brown eyes, her hair was done up in two side ponytails and on her feet were two pink trainers, both fitted with pink laces and a small pink bow on the outside. The four girls continued to stare at him. Then the others stepped back until they were off the stadium floor, muttering a little to each other with, surprisingly, no giggling what so ever. The forth girl simply stood her ground. Her expression stern and defiant. She look at this newcomer trainer who had just burst in unannounced.

"I have come to challenge the leader of this gym to a battle." He announced. "So let's get this over with. Who's the gym leader here?" He asked. The girl standing in the middle of the stadium looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"I am." She said simply. Joe looked at her.

"You?!" He exclaimed. "But you're… a kid." He said. She looked at him.

"Oh, how very nice of you." She muttered coldly. "Just burst on in here and make fun of the fact I'm only eleven years old. How very nice of you, sir." Her voice rose a couple of octaves. "What difference does that make? You battle Bugsy to get here, I assume?"

"Well, yes, of course, but…" Joe muttered a little sheepishly. He was taken aback by her angry response.

"Well he's only ten. Did you complain about that when you met him?"

"Only ten?" Joe said surprised. "I thought he was at least twelve."

"Well he's not." The gym leader complained. She rubbed her nose. "Did you come here to battle or did you just want to insult me?" She asked.

"I came to battle." Joe said, speaking up in his stronger voice now. The girl narrowed her eyes.

"Of course you did." She said.

"Beat him up, Whitney!" One of the girls from the side called, confidently. The other two cheered in agreement. The gym leader, Whitney, turned around and smiled at her friends. She turned back to Joe.

"Well, I was about to close the gym for the day." She explained. "It's nearly past my bed time. If you come by tomorrow I'm sure I can take you on then." Joe looked annoyingly crestfallen.

"I would like to battle now." He explained. "I've just pumped myself up for this. I'll lose that feeling if I wait till tomorrow." Whitney looked at him, then back at her friends. When she turned around she had a maliciously knowing grin on her face.

"Alright." She agreed, speaking in a sweetly evil chirrup. "I'll fight you. But only the one battle tonight. Any other you'll have to come back for tomorrow morning."

"Great!" Joe exclaimed. "Let's do this now then." The doors opened and Winter ran in, followed ahead by Ralph who reached Joe in a matter of seconds. Joe turned to see his friend enter in. "You're finally here." He exclaimed happily. "You're about to see me wipe the floor with this little girl." Whitney giggled quietly.

"Oh we'll see." She said in a fairy princess tone. She took her place up at the opposite podium, reaching for one of the two pokeballs at her side.

"You really think this is a good idea right now?" Winter asked as she reached Joe. "You haven't had any rest all day. Maybe you should come back tomorrow." Joe looked at her.

"Winter, I'm not letting that Silver guy prove himself right about me." He explained. "I'm showing him that I am a strong trainer, and if that means beating a gym leader then so be it."

"You shouldn't listen to him." Winter told him. "He's just winding you up. Do you really think he cares about if you're really strong or not?" She asked him, trying to be kind.

"But what if I do?" He told her. The conversation ended there. Winter stepped away.

"Just don't push yourself to hard." She muttered as she walked away to the stands, taking a seat near the bottom row this time. She seemed concerned and rightfully so. Joe was about to enter a gym battle, while exhausted and with unhealed pokémon. This was basically a form of suicide. Joe took his place on the podium and glared down his opponent. Whitney did the same. From the roof a large electronic sign came down, reading the usual data of the battle, showing each side and their pokémon out on the field, the type it was and the amount of energy it had left to fight.

"Good luck." Whitney called to him. It was almost taunting. Joe narrowed his eyes and gave a small smile of smugness.

"Thanks, but I don't need it." He said back.

"You will." Whitney smiled. Her smile worried him a little. It was too knowing, too cocky. She seemed to be aware of something he wasn't. Joe didn't let it intimidate him. He reached for a pokeball and unclipped it, gripping it in his hand. Whitney did the same. Both pokeballs went arching through the air towards the centre of the field.

"Go, Leaf!" Joe yelled.

"Go, Clefairy!" Whitney called.

Both pokeballs landed and released their encased pokémon. Leaf appeared, booming on Joe's side of the field, whipping his long head leaf around like the tip of a whip. A small, pink skinned Clefairy popped out onto Whitney's side, smiling stupidly with an upbeat expression and fluffing its tail cutely. Joe didn't hesitate to make the first command.

"Leaf, body slam it!" He yelled. Whitney also jumped into action.

"Double slap!" She called. Both pokémon charged, preparing their attacks. This fight didn't go on for long. Leaf charge in, head first and rammed into the slowly running Clefairy, dragging it across the room. Clefairy hung onto his flat green skull and began slapping him on the cranium with sharp and surprisingly strong hands. It stopped when it collided with the opposite wall. Clefairy slumped to the ground but quickly got back up. "Tail whip!" Whitney called. Clefairy ran at the much taller and stronger Bayleef.

"Razor leaf!" Joe yelled. Leaf flicked his head leaf and sent a flurry of crescent leaves spinning off towards his opponent. And that was it. Clefairy was hit dead on and it collapsed to the floor, unable to fight any more. Joe was amazed. That was the quickest fight he'd ever had with any gym leader's pokémon. If her last pokémon was anything like this he was pretty much certified to win with all his pokémon still conscious. However only the fight was won. The battle as a whole still had to go on, and Whitney had two pokémon on her side. She withdrew Clefairy and placed its pokeball back onto her belt.

"Well done." She whispered as she placed the ball onto its clip. Joe seemed a little surprised by her comment. She didn't seem upset. If anything she looked glad, as if she'd been wanting it to be knocked out. The strangest part was that it didn't sound malicious, as if she was mocking or scorning it by being sarcastic. She genuinely sounded grateful for it being beaten in the fight. This made Joe a little nervous. What did she have up her sleeve that wouldn't require her first pokémon doing much damage or much of anything? Whitney looked back up at Joe. "You still want to go on?" She asked, as if it was he who had lost one of his pokémon and not her.

"Of course." Joe nodded, still feeling a little uncertain about this battle but deciding to push on. He wasn't going to let a bad feeling get in his way of a strong victory. Whitney smiled.

"Okay then." She muttered. "It's your funeral." She reached for her second pokeball, the last pokeball on her belt. She primed it in her small hand. "Go, Miltank!" She yelled as she threw the ball through the air.

It was at this point where everything went south for Joe and his team. Onto Whitney's side of the field appeared a huge, fat, white skinned and pink faced cow, with large udders. The Miltank sat down heavily on its side of the field, gave a huge moo of excitement and scratched the back of its ear with a hoof. Joe stared at it, or rather tried not to stare at it. He had never seen such a weird looking pokémon in all his life, and that was saying a lot considering he'd met Frank. Whatever insane mind had created this thing needed to see a doctor and, if possible, quite soon. Whitney was smiling both excitedly, knowingly and even malevolently at Joe and his pokémon. Then she looked back at her pokémon.

"Now we're talking!" She yelped in serious excitement. "Miltank, stomp that vegetable!" She called. Miltank stood up. There was what felt like a minute of waiting for it to do so. It had so much fat on its body that the effort of standing was like scaling a small mountainside. Then it ran, not charged, at Leaf, who just stared at it. It quite literally moved like a cow, bounding from hoofed foot to hoofed foot, never taking its weight of at least three feet at a time. It was like watching a roll of ham with thin legs try and run a marathon… while wearing a pair of hanging comedy udders. At first Joe was hardly threatened by it, but he soon would be. He laughed a little.

"Leaf, body slam it and knock it onto its back!" He called. He wanted to be more malicious about his command – he was in that kind of mood – but he remembered this was a child he was fighting and she probably wouldn't take it too well. She looked like the kind of girl who'd get overprotective. He realised that he sounded like Silver and stopped that thought. Leaf ran forwards on stronger, faster legs then the Miltank's, and reached it in no time, slamming with his full front into the large female cow's front body. But, to his everlasting surprise and shame, nothing happened. Miltank hardly even flinched. It remained totally unmoved by his attack. Leaf blinked. So did Joe. His mouth dropped a little. Whitney smiled.

"Nice try." She told him. "But my Miltank's too strong for that kind of attack." She told him. Joe gulped.

"No kidding." He muttered, still a little shocked and quickly becoming quite concerned about Leaf's chances. Leaf on the other hand was absolutely mortified by his chances.

"Now, Miltank, show it who's boss!" Whitney called. Miltank mooed in a low growling manor, but instead of shoving Leaf back like they were expecting, it simply lowered its head and rammed it under his chest. Leaf tried to push back but found nothing to ram against, as Miltank's neck passed under his own. Then suddenly he found himself being lifted of the ground. He exclaimed in surprise as he slid down Miltank's fat neck and sat on its back, looking completely stunned. His legs were pushed out against the huge heifer cow's fat belly and he was being carried around by the beast. Miltank simply mooed happily and confidently. Whitney was laughing at the scene, as was her friends. Joe was just staring in amazement, as was Ralph, as was Winter.

"What the hell is going on?" Joe exclaimed in confusion. Whitney giggled manically.

"Now, give it a good throw!" She yelled. Leaf was one second not very safely positioned on Miltank's back, then suddenly he was flying, as the huge cow kicked its back legs, raised its behind sharply and flung the helpless, hapless and all around disturbed Bayleef flying back across the room. Leaf was quickly realising just how bad a decision taking part in this battle had been. Joe was also quickly realising this.

"Leaf, are you okay?" He called. Leaf grunted. "Is that a yes?" Joe asked. Leaf grunted again. "Ok. You can do it. Just hold on and we'll find a weakness." It was at that point the first of the two soon to be most dreaded words were uttered by Whitney.

"Attract!" She called. Leaf rubbed his aching head, which had just been slammed into the wall, and looked back at his opponent, sour faced. His expression suddenly fell from annoyance to dumbfounded adoring and the inability to look away. Joe looked at his pokémon.

"Leaf?" He called, waving a confused and concerned flat hand at his pokémon. "Are you okay?" He asked. Leaf didn't hear him. He just continued to stare at Miltank. Joe followed his gaze. The large, fat but kind of cute cow was smiling cutely at Leaf, its eyes big and soppy, its head tilted a little, looking back into his eyes. Leaf was smitten, which was weird. Joe quickly realised the drastic situation he had entered. He looked at Whitney. "That's an unfair move!" He complained.

"Tough." Whitney told him, smiling happily. "My pokémon. My gym. My rules!" She pointed a finger and uttered the other word that was soon to become the most dreaded words Joe would hear. "Rollout!" She yelled. Miltank quickly rolled itself into a huge fat pink and white ball. Then it began to move, rolling faster and faster towards the besotted Leaf.

"Leaf, snap out of it!" Joe called, but Leaf didn't listen. He stayed in the same spot, looking just as dumb faced as a young teenage boy in the same situation. "Move!" Joe shouted. Leaf snapped awake too late. Miltank struck him, knocking him over like a bowling pin of fragile glass being struck by a bowling ball made of solid concrete rock. Leaf was shattered like a thin slate of flint on the pavement. He struck the ground with a painful thud, his body shivering with weakness and exhaustion. "Come on! Get back up!" Joe chanted under his breath. Leaf found the strength to push himself back onto his feet, regaining the ability to fight back. Then he was rammed in the side again by a returning rollout from Miltank. It crushed him into the wall, this time using double the force. The poor unfortunate Bayleef slumped down to the floor, leaving a large dent in the outer wall of the stadium and he himself slumped down at the floor. This time Leaf didn't get back up. All his strength had left him now. Joe was stunned by how suddenly the battle had turned around. He withdrew Leaf from the field wordlessly and turned his gaze to Whitney. She was grinning widely, giggling like a childish schoolgirl.

"You still want to go on?" She asked again. This time it was a lot more malicious and definitely a threat. She seemed to be eating up her victory. Joe narrowed his eyes. He was not going to let this pass. Even if she was stronger then he'd thought, or if she was indeed wiping the floor with him right now, he wasn't going to let himself get crushed just yet. He reached for his next pokeball. He gripped the ball in his hand and released it.

"Come on out, Quill!" He called as the ball landed and released his young yet determined cyndaquil into the battle. Quill flared up his spinal fire point and stepped up to fight, ready to take on his opponent. Miltank came rolling back in. It rampaged back across the field and rammed into Quill before any new command could be made. Then Quill was gone, flattened under the huge white cow steamroller which had been approaching him. The fight was over before it had even begun. Joe was flabbergast. Forget that, he was totally and utterly dumbfound. How was this going so… bad? He had totally underestimated Whitney, and her skills as a trainer. But he still had one thing he could rely on to beat her. He withdrew Quill just as quickly as he'd sent him out and placed his pokeball back onto his belt. Then he turned to Ralph. "You up for a fight?" He asked him. Ralph nodded determinedly. "Alright. Then get out there and end this fight." He insisted, shoving his closest companion out into the field. Ralph looked at him with a surprised expression, but quickly focused on the battle. Miltank was still rolling around, rotating like a maddened boulder. Ralph took off like a purple missile, ready to strike.

"Hit it down!" Whitney yelled. Miltank charged again, heading towards Ralph with the intention of destroying a wall. Ralph didn't slow or stop. He kept up his attack, prepared for whatever attack he took. At least he thought he was. When Miltank struck, not only was his attack ruptured like a thin layer of paper, he was crushed under its hulking body. The Miltank rolled along until it finally stopped, finishing a few feet away. Ralph was stuck to its stomach, looking pretty shocked. When he finally fell off, he lay daze faced looking up at the roof. Miltank raised a hoofed foot. "Stomp it into the ground!" Whitney yelled, her voice and face full of excitement.

"No!" Joe exclaimed. Ralph could only look up in disappointment as Miltank's foot came down. The battle was over. Whitney had won. There was no word to describe Joe's horror and shock. His mouth hung open dumbly and his eyes were wide and twitching. Winter sat quiet, also stunned. She just waited for the inevitable reaction to kick in. Ralph lay flattened and cross eyed, barely conscious and definitely unable to fight any more. Only Whitney and her giggling friends were smiling anymore. She stepped away from her stand, her expression a full beaming smile, and she looked out to her defeated opponent and with a tone of happy and joyful excitement, she called out.

"So was that you wipe the floor with me?"

* * *

Joe lay back exhausted onto his set bed for the night. He was annoyed… and depressed… but mainly annoyed. He had totally underestimated Whitney, so much so that she'd wiped out all three of his set pokémon for that battle before any of them could do any damage to her. Maybe Silver was right. Maybe he was just a weakling. Come to think of that, where was his unroyal highness? They hadn't seen him since they'd gone straight to the gym. Joe could only assume he'd decided to run off. But it was of no importance to him. He couldn't care less where the redheaded brat went, so long as he wasn't annoying him with complaints about how simple, dumb or weak he was. Joe rubbed his forehead. His brain ached, both from tiredness and, in respect to his team, disappointment. Not with them, more himself. He should have known better. He should have taken in the warnings. Even the day care people had told him she was stronger than she looked. But the second he realised she was a child, he'd jumped right in without a second thought. And that's exactly what she'd expected him to do, in fact she needed him to do that. Her trickster strategy relied on her opponent expecting her to be weak. That's why she started with Clefairy, who hadn't been a challenge whatsoever. That Miltank was exactly what it sounded like. A tank in the shape of a cow. And when it rolled it crushed everything in its path, unmoving for anything, slowly crushing up the world under the many layers of fat and muscle hidden behind it's pink and white skin. He still couldn't figure out how it could use a move like attract successfully, though. The thing was hardly pretty, maybe a little cute, but not gorgeous. It was a cow. Maybe it was a form of hypnotism he'd never encountered before. He had just finished feeding Casey a glass of crushed berry juice and let him sleep again before he'd tried to sleep himself. He rolled over to see Winter looking at him from the opposite bed. She looked just as wiped out and tired, but nowhere near as annoyed or depressed. Still, she'd been quite surprised when the cute little girl had pulled out a hulking cow. She'd been even more surprised to see it win.

"You contemplating?" She asked. Joe shrugged, his left arm pressed into his mattress as he lay on it. It was a surprisingly comfortable position to lie in, though not for his left arm, or the mattress for that matter.

"A little." He told her. "I'm just thinking about that fight." He explained. Winter nodded.

"Guess we should have seen that coming." She told him, though not in any way cruelly. "She looked to innocent." She looked at him. "You shouldn't have a go at yourself for it." She told him. "I imagine most trainers loose to her the first time." Joe sighed.

"I guess." He rolled over onto his back. The white roof above was calmingly empty. He began to feel adrift, as if he was lying on a raft out at sea, looking up at the stars. "It's just what Silver said really got to me." He admitted. "I wanted to show him that actually I was strong, that I could deal with any situation that came up or any battle that proved a challenge. But I guess I was wrong. I'm not that great after all." Winter rolled onto her own back.

"You shouldn't listen to him." She told him. "He's just one of those guys who makes fun of other's incompetence to make himself feel better."

"You mean a bully?"

"Exactly." Winter chuckled a little at his response. Joe turned his head and smiled at her. From the corner Ralph gave an exhausted moan. It was tough to tell if it was him getting annoyed by their awkward chatting or him in pain from his quite nasty looking injuries. Either way they ignored it and let him sleep. "Silver's probably just trying to make you feel bad after you beat him so dramatically this morning." Winter told him. "Who knows? If you guys spend more time with each other, you may even come to like him a little." Joe scoffed.

"Ha. I doubt it. He doesn't seem to want anything to do with us." He walked away rather than even see if I won that gym battle. And earlier today, what did he do to help us fight of the rockets?"

"He did stop the ones trying to get round the back." Winter told him.

"Oh yeah. I forgot that bit." He fell quiet. He found his eyes were starting to get a little heavy.

"You can always take on the gym again tomorrow, when you and Ralph are less tired." Winter told him. Joe shrugged unsurely.

"I dunno." He told her. "If I couldn't beat her today, who's to say it'll go any better tomorrow. We probably need to train up a little."

"Maybe not." Winter thought suddenly. She sat up. "You could always plan out a way to beat her Miltank, and we could do that now."

"Like what?" Joe asked. Winter thought for a second.

"Well, did you catch all the moves she told it to use?" She asked. Joe also thought for a second.

"I remember her using Rollout and Attract." He told her. They were the moves that really finished it for me."

"Any others?" Winter asked. Joe thought for a bit longer.

"The only other one I can think of was Stomp, but apart from that one that's it." He said. "She never said a forth one."

"Right." Winter said. "Then it's probably likely that she'd have taught it some kind of healing move." She reasoned. "If her strategy is to surprise a challenger with how tough she is on the first fight, then for the second time they try a smart tactic would be to set your pokémon up with something to heal them up. And, money wise, it's cheaper to teach it a healing move then it is to buy lots of potions." She counted quickly on her fingers. "That would make up the four moves her pokémon know." Joe thought.

"So how could I possibly plan around a move set I don't know for sure?" He asked.

"You could prepare for the ones you do know about." Winter explained. "Miltank's strongest move was rollout. Ralph is a flying type and is weak to rock moves, as is Quill, so it's probably best not to put them out anywhere near that thing." She began speaking a little quicker, her mind blazing with tactics on how Joe could win. "But leaf would most likely be able to withstand that attack for a few hits, enough time to get in a poisonpowder or a razor leaf. Clearly it has a high resistance to physical attacks, so attacking it from afar may be the best option. Maybe if you can set it up with a status problem that will slow it down or weaken it."

"And then if I keep pressing the attacks and stopping it from using any healing move it may know, I'll be able to finish it off hopefully with not too many problems." Joe smiled. He was starting to feel a little better. Now he had the basics of a plan, and some idea on how he could defeat it. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Now he felt a little hopeful. Winter smiled back.

"Excellent." She told him. "Do you feel better?" She asked.

"A bit." Joe told her.

"Good." They were silent for a bit. "Joe?" Winter asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Joe asked.

"I was just wandering…" Winter spoke quieter now, as if she was nervous. "After all this… After everything with Team Rocket is defeated and everything we're trying to stop is gone…"

"Hmm." Joe said.

"Well…" Winter seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "It's not really important, but… I was just wandering… after all this… will we still be friends?"

"Hmm." Joe said. Winter was blushing a little.

"And maybe…" She heard the sound of snoring. She rolled over. Joe was asleep, his head lulled back onto the pillow, looking up with closed eyes to the roof. Winter sighed. "Never mind." She muttered.

* * *

Joe stepped back into the gym. It was the next morning, at around 9AM, his pokémon had all been healed overnight and he was rested and ready for another fight. Whitney had been expecting him. Her experience had taught her that a trainer she'd beaten would come quickly back to try again. Most of the time this intuition was right. She stood at her podium already, her Clefairy and her Miltank waiting at her side. The Miltank looked quite ready to fight again. Whitney had her arms crossed.

"You're back." She called.

"Yes I am." Joe called back as he entered the stadium and walked to his own podium opposite her. Ralph followed after him and Winter, who had walked in with them, again took up seat on the stands. Whitney had a small smile on her face.

"After I defeated you so easily." She continued.

"I was not deterred by the loss." Joe told her, reaching his podium. "So, are we going to talk all day or are we going to fight?"

"Of course we will." Whitney told him in a high pitch giggle. "This will be so much fun."

"One condition, though." Joe interrupted. Whitney looked at him. "You only send out your Miltank to fight. No using Clefairy to lull me into some false sense of security. Just Miltank, nothing else." Whitney looked at him, her eyes narrowed.

"You definitely weren't deterred, were you?" She muttered to herself. Joe nodded. She smiled. "Okay. I accept your condition." She pumped a thin feminine arm. "Let's rematch!"

The battle began again. Miltank stomped across the room and took up place on the battle field, standing on Whitney's side. Joe reached for a pokeball and readied it in his hand to release his first pokémon. This time he had a plan to take out her Miltank. He had thought about it on the way. The pokeball was flung from his hand and when it landed it released the tail bouncing marill, Mar, from his hold. Mar jumped from foot to foot, excited to take on the huge cow that was standing like a tower in front of him. It seemed on the outside that Joe had just sent Mar to his death, but he had a plan. Mar was smaller, quite a lot smaller, then Miltank was. While he wasn't exactly faster he could probably dodge a lot of Miltank's rollout attempts. Joe's thinking was; if he could get Mar to dodge the rollouts and land his own attacks, then he'd be able to at least ware it down for one of his other pokémon to finish off. This plan was yet to be put into action, but it was good enough to start with for now. Joe pointed a finger.

"Mar, use water gun!" Joe yelled. Mar puffed up his cheeks as they filed with water.

"Stomp!" Whitney commanded. Miltank charged forwards, rushing like a fat bull at its top speed, which wasn't very high. It readied to raise a strong foot and crush the small blue mouse under it. Mar then released his attack. A huge globule of water spat from his lips and sailed across the battlefield, hitting Miltank in the face. Miltank blinked and flinched as the water struck its head, but it didn't stop, it kept up the charge, only now it had water in its eyes.

"Good, now dodge it!" Joe instructed quickly. Mar rolled aside like a puffy fur ball in the wind, just as Miltank's hoof struck where he had been. It growled in annoyance and looked around for the escape marill. Mar was standing a few metres away, preparing for another attack.

"Rollout!" Whitney yelled. Miltank curled up into a huge bulky white muscle ball and rushed forwards towards the small blue target.

"Mar, evade it!" Joe called. Mar rolled aside, but this time he was not lucky enough to escape from the rampaging cow. Miltank passed by like an escapee pinball, but somehow turned around on the spot a few metres away and came rolling back, this time at higher speed. Mar turned to see the huge bulk, and then he was kicked away and upwards like a blubbery blue football. He sailed up, and then he fell down. He landed with a small squeak of pain face first onto the floor. Miltank was turning around to bring in another attack. Joe was getting worried. If Mar didn't get back up in time then another strike like that would probably finish him.

"Now, take it out while it's down!" Whitney instructed. Miltank rotated around near its trainer, turned back to face Mar, and charged again at an increasing speed. Joe had a sudden idea.

"Mar, back up to the walls!" Joe instructed. Mar looked back at him, very confused and concerned by this idea. "Just trust me." Joe called. Mar did as he was told. He turned tail and ran for the nearest wall. Miltank was quickly catching up, but fortunately Mar got there before it reached him. Joe had realised from watching the beast that, while it was really bulky and tough and surprisingly fast, it didn't have very good steering or control. It took a while to slow and turn around. And in order to do that it needed space. Joe watched as Miltank got quickly closer and closer to Mar, who was standing back to the low wall around the edge of the stadium. Joe smiled a little. At the right time the right command would be fatal. Whitney clenched her fists, tense with anticipation. Miltank was almost in front of him now, looming over the water mouse like a bulky cow war machine. "Now!" Joe shouted finally. Mar jumped, rolling right out of the way as Miltank came charging past. The huge beast couldn't stop. In fact it hardly even slowed down, right up until the impact. Miltank crashed body first into the wall, shattering it into dust and brick. It lay sprawled out on its stomach, quite badly hurt from the impact. But it managed to push itself up, grunting and mooing as if nothing had even happened. On the board it's health dropped by a sixth. Joe gulped. Only a sixth? That was barely nothing. He'd have to lay down some serious damage if he wanted to take it down for good. Maybe Mar wasn't good for that job just yet. Before he could consider his other options Whitney was making her latest command.

"Stomp it!" She yelled. Miltank pushed itself up out of the rubble, its impact residue, and slowly reversed out of the wall like a hulking truck out of a grass field. It turned around, spotted Mar who was standing a few metres away and began to charge again, this time not rolling but running, its front hoot ready to lay a powerful front kick.

"Dodge!" Joe said, not thinking, making a quick command to stop his pokémon being finished. Mar did as he was told, jumping aside and rolling out of the way, avoiding a stomping leg that impacted where he had been standing. Yet Mar did not stop rolling. Instead he sped up, rotating faster and faster on the spot, his body and limbs a blur in their own surrounding blue sphere. Then his body darted around, spinning of and making a full U-turn back, performing his own rollout on the gigantic bovine pokémon attacking him. Miltank so far had been hardly hurt by any of Mar's attacks, so when he hit it for the first time in his ball form it was surprised by how much pain it felt. Mar smacked straight into its side, ramming it aside and passed under its flopping belly, rolling on and beginning to turn again.

"What?!" Whitney exclaimed, shocked by the sudden returning rollout from the previously harmless Aquamouse. Joe was rather amazed. He was also incredibly glad. Now he had a move Mar could use to teach this annoying beast a lesson.

"Good work, Mar!" He called. "Now, hit it again!" Mar spun around, bounced with the build-up of speed and shot forwards like Sonic the Aqua-Hog. Miltank turned slowly and squared down the quickly approaching marill.

"Rollout it!" Whitney called. Mar's rollout was, not too surprisingly, a lot faster than Miltank's. But, in a case of force, his attack was not as devastating. And this quickly became apparent as his second hit came in. Miltank curled up into its own rollout ball and sped forwards to meet the arriving Mar. It was time for two same attacks to collide. The equational force was explosive. So much so that one pokémon went flying backwards.

Rollout is an odd move. It gains power with each successive attack. So long as the user hits the target pokémon before the move tires out, the second strike will double in power. So, considering this, Mar, who had already hit Miltank and was coming in for a second strike, should have the stronger force behind him when he hits. As it turned out he didn't. Mar struck and flew right over Miltank's head, gliding limply, his body shattered from unmentionable force. Then he entered an unconscious freefall. When he landed, he bounced lightly on his back and lay flat and flaccid, defeated and beaten. Joe stared. Then he gulped. How had it gone so wrong so quickly? He'd had a chance, but it had been snatched away from him like candy from a baby. Miltank simply mooed proudly and rubbed its hooves, calmly anticipating the next part of the fight. Whitney also seemed amused. She was giggling. The sound was, to Joe, like running a rusty nail down the strings of a tuneless violin.

"I guess when it comes to force my Miltank packs a bigger punch then your marill does." Miltank nodded slowly, lazily, too happy chewing its own cud of showing of victory. Joe could feel his own internal mountain of anger beginning to bubble. But he kept his lid firmly on. An eruption would not help this situation. He retrieved Mar from the field by drawing him back into his pokeball.

"Nice try, bud." Joe muttered. "It wasn't the right fight for you. You gave it a really go, though." He placed the pokeball back onto his belt. He then reached for another one. There was no flowing transition between transitions. One minute Mar was on the field, the next he had been replace by a rather unsure looking Leaf. Sadly for Joe, Leaf still remembered what had happened the previous battle. He was trying not to make eye contact with Miltank. It was too awkward for him. Miltank however hardly seemed to care. Whitney even seemed to be finding the situation a little funny, as she was giggling again.

"It feels like Déjà vu." She giggled loudly. Miltank mooed in agreement. Joe pathed his hands together, thinking of what he could do to get Leaf through the battle, assuming what Whitney was likely to do and how she was likely to react to certain situations. He eventually made a decision.

"Leaf, set up a reflect!" Joe called. Leaf did so. He flicked his head leaf around once, causing the air it passed over to glow pink and glittery. A pink energy field surrounded the front of his body, nulling any damage he took. That would at least give him double more time to land a strong or efficient attack. Now it was Whitney's turn to attack.

"Rollout!" Whitney instructed. Miltank curled up and rolled forwards. It sped towards Leaf with the power of a rampaging bull. Joe did nothing to stop it. Leaf stood tense, ready to take the attack. When he did, he was surprised to survive not to badly hurt. He was shoved back across the battle field, but only a few feet or so, his reflect shield was still up and he was still standing. He didn't feel weak. His reflect had worked. Even Miltank was surprised. It had stopped its rollout just to look surprised. "How did it survive so easily?" Whitney demanded. Joe simply shrugged.

"Reflect." He told her. "It solves all problems with damage." He raised a finger and pointed it. "Razor Leaf!" He yelled. Leaf flicked his leaf, sending sharp crescent blades flying from it. The attack struck Miltank in the chest and it flinched, painfully. "Now, body slam it!" Joe continued. Leaf ran towards his cow opponent, his head up and his chest forwards. He was going to topple this tower of meat even if it crushed him in the proses. Miltank was beginning to regain focus on the fight again.

"Stop it now!" Whitney yelled, quite worried by the bayleef's sudden burst of confidence. "Attract!" She winked at her pokémon. Miltank grinned evilly. It stood up again and looked at Leaf. Leaf could feel his heart flutter a little. His brain was going numb, a common side effect for males of all species.

"Don't pay attention to it!" Joe instructed quickly. "Focus behind or beside it. Imagine it's not there! Don't let it get to you!" Leaf kept up his charge, his head lowered so he didn't have to look at Miltank, or its face, or its eyes. He charged in and slammed straight into Miltank's fat body, toppling it backwards onto its back. Miltank lay flattened out like a beef burger pate, its legs flailing as they tried to touch ground. Unfortunately Leaf had fallen with it, and his head was currently crushed in between several layers of its fat. He struggled to pull himself out again. Joe would have made a comment about how Leaf likes big women but he assumed it would have been insensitive at this point. Eventually he did manage to break free, and when he did his face was not only disgusted, it was blank with horror.

"Well I hope you're happy!" Whitney scowled. "Cow tipping isn't very funny. It's just cruel to the cows. How would you like it if one of them tipped you over?" Joe shrugged. He probably wouldn't care if one did.

"Leaf, now's your chance! Lay a poison powder on it!" Leaf nodded in agreement and began whipping his head about. Small specks of acidic pollen came slowly flying out like a cloud. Miltank got back to its feet and caught a lungful of the hazardous pollen. It coughed and spluttered purple gunk. The poison had already set in. Whitney groaned.

"Damn trickster!" She muttered. Joe thought that was rich of her to say. "Stomp it! Stomp it now!" She yelled. Miltank got heavily to its feet and raised a hoof, bringing it down on Leaf's foot. He exclaimed in pain and backed away.

"Body Slam!" Joe called. Leaf rammed Miltank with his chest, pushing her back with his own body force. Miltank grunted and snorted, wincing its eyes as it pushed back against the overgrown sentient ground vegetable. Leaf breathed short but heavy, trying to push the incredibly weighty bulk of Miltank back. His attack was slowly winning against it. Then Miltank pushed pack hard. Leaf backed up, stumbling on his own legs and landing on his back legs. Miltank grunted. Its health had passed half way and was slowly getting lower. The poisoning was really having an effect. Whitney was getting steamed up with anger and a hint of worry. He patted a fist onto her flat palm.

"Okay, time to resort to plan B." She muttered, just loud enough for the bystanders to hear. "Miltank, milk drink!" She roared. Miltank smiled. It performed an action that shall not be described in this book. (Sorry Kids.) Its energy bar shot back up as it regained its strength to fight. Leaf was giving a disgusted expression, as was the human audience. Joe looked from the pokémon to Whitney and his expression changed to annoyance.

"That's hardly fare!" He complained. Whitney shrugged.

"Sorry but that's life." She told him, speaking in her high pitch sweat voice. Joe felt the lid of his internal volcano cracking. That Miltank… That Damn Miltank… was proving to be too much of a problem. He looked back at the board, and found himself suddenly surprised. Miltank's health bar was still depleting. The poison was still in effect, and it was becoming more potent. An idea came to his mind. He didn't have to defeat Miltank with force. If he could at least keep it distracted from using another… 'Milk Drink', it would eventually surrender to the effort of fighting it. Leaf would need to do something that would keep its attention, however. What could he do? And then an Idea struck him. He looked back to his side of the field.

"Leaf, come back!" He called. Leaf, Winter and Whitney looked at him.

"What?" Whitney wandered aloud. She wasn't good at hiding her opinion. Leaf looked confused too. This action didn't make sense to him. But he obeyed. He walked quickly back to Joe's side, touched his own pokeball and withdrew himself from the field. Joe placed Leaf's ball back onto his belt.

"What are you planning?" Whitney thought aloud. Joe looked at her.

"Why should I say?" He thought to himself. He reached for a third pokeball and released it without throwing it. "Come on out, Pippy." He yelled. Pippy the pikachu appeared onto the field, his tail twitching and his fir on end with static. He looked at Miltank. Miltank looked at Pippy. Then they both took up defensive stances. "Pippy, make sure Miltank doesn't heal itself. Keep it distracted long enough for the poison to finish it off." He whispered as Pippy stepped up onto the field. Pippy nodded in understanding and prepared to fight.

"Rollout!" Whitney called. Miltank rolled into its ball and charged to attack.

"Double team!" Joe commanded. Pippy split into several figure, becoming a multiple entity. Miltank struck and the Pippy faded away. It had hit a decoy. It came back around and rolled into another one. Again it was a fake. Pippy jumped aside as this time, on its third time around, it nearly hit him. Miltank turned back and charged again, heading for the now open pikachu. "Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy shot a bolt of strong electricity at the incoming boulder. The attack hit and chattered into sparks. Miltank seized up. Its body froze and its ball form stopped spinning, instead skidding forwards towards its target. It stopped inches away, lying flat on its back. It looked up and saw the pikachu looking stupidly at it. It began to get angry. Miltank stood back up, raised a hoof and brought it down, crushing the pikachu below its foot. When it moved the foot way there was nothing but dust. It suddenly heard a taunting squeak from behind. Miltank slowly turned around. Pippy was standing safely a few feet away, sparks appearing in his red cheeks.

"Look out!" Whitney yelled.

"Now!" Joe yelled over her. Pippy fired and Miltank ducked. Unfortunately it hadn't realised that it couldn't duck, because its huge belly kept it high above the ground. The thunderbolt struck it in the head, causing its mouth to go numb and its tongue to hand limply out of its jaw, inflated like a slimy balloon worm. It was Pippy and Joe's turn to giggle now, as they looked at this once threatening cow lying with its tongue out. Whitney grumbled, her expression changing from anger, to annoyance, to sudden realisation, to fear. She'd looked at the board. Miltank's health was dangerously low now. She'd have to use plan B again.

"Miltank! Milk drink again!" She called.

"I don't think so!" Joe yelled in retort. "Pippy, stop it!" Miltank was about to perform the act, when Pippy butted in, shocking it with another nasty thunderbolt to the stomach. Miltank yelled in its booming moo tone and dropped the jar. Milk spilled out across the floor, glass pieces poking out of it dangerously. It backed up, back on its feet, looking exhausted. The fight was reaching its climax. Only one would walk way with victory now, but either side could still take it.

"Stomp that little pest!" Whitney screamed, fury and fear in her face.

"Slam!" Joe called. Miltank charged and Pippy jumped. He sailed through the air like a yellow boomerang, tail flapping and ears pulled back. He flew up, then dropped down, puffed chest first. He struck Miltank's head, smacking it square in the forehead and knocking it of balance. The huge cow skidded left and collapsed onto its side, causing the ground to quake suddenly, and then fall calm. Miltank did not get back up. It was defeated. The game was over. Joe and his team, against all odds, had won.

Whitney's arms dropped to her side. She looked at her defeated pokémon lying on the field, her expression full of shock.

"Miltank!" She exclaimed, her voice concerned and defeated. Miltank did not respond. Her cheeks suddenly puffed up. Her lip began to wobble and from the corner of her eye a small tear began to fall. "You… you…" She gulped, her voice breaking as she began to swell up. Then she burst. Tears ran down her face like a new flowing waterfall. Her eyes swelled and went red. Her lip wobbled uncontrollable. "You… Bully!" She covered her face with her hands, tears staining her cheeks, her eyes puffing up red and swollen. Joe stepped back, simply baffled by her reaction. Was this anything near the way a gym leader should act? Was this even close? He'd never seen Bugsy, or Falkner, or any of the other gym leaders from Kanto for that matter, start wailing and crying at their defeat. Joe didn't want to seem insensitive, but he went in with the question anyway, knowing there was no way of coming out not looking cold or heartless.

"Do you think I could have my gym badge now, please?" He asked, stepping away from the podium and onto the stadium field, towards the teary eyed young girl who acted as a gym leader. He tried to say it as kindly and warm heartedly as possible, but no matter how he said it, it came out cruel. Whitney looked at him through the gaps between her fingers. She rubbed her eyes.

"What… no… no, not right now." She mumbled, her throat choking on her own sobs. Joe narrowed his eyebrows over his wide surprised and uncouthly annoyed eyes.

"Uh, I know this isn't the time, but I did win the fight. I need your badge as a sign of proof." He tried to explain it but quickly stopped, noticing the cold stared from Whitney's friends on the side. They quickly hurried from the stands and up to her, hugging her in their colourful and very girly cloud of pink. One of them turned to Joe, less angry looking and more reasonable then the others were but still clearly unhappy with his attitude. She bowed her head in disrespect.

"Whitney does this every time she loses." She explained as quietly as she could. "It's not really your fault, it's just how she copes with loosing. She'll be okay in a second." Joe made an 'oh' face and stepped back, his hands up flat in relaxing defence. Ralph looked at him, a specific expression on his face. It was tough to describe, but it looked closest to a mixture of confusion, bafflement, annoyance and thorough weirding out. Whitney took a minute or so to calm down, her friends surrounding her and hugging her, trying to make her cheer up. Winter got tired of sitting and waiting and decided Joe join Joe and Ralph's side. She smiled at Joe, quite clearly not only proud but also amazed that he'd beaten her the way he had. He smiled back. Between them they had a subconscious conversation. It went something like this:

'You did win in the end. I knew you could.'

'I only won because you helped out.'

'Oh shut up. I didn't really help much.'

'You helped me think up a strategy to beat her. I probably would've lost if you hadn't done that.'

'Cro' Ralph somehow butted in. Even in their subconscious conversation he was always breaking the uncomfortable ice between them. Joe wished he didn't.

Eventually Whitney stopped her crying and turned back around to the two trainers, one of who had just defeated her, and his pet crobat. She rubbed her crimson eyes and wiped her running nose. She smiled weakly and bowed to the two of them.

"I'm sorry about that." She apologised. Then she reached into the pocket of her shirt. "As you said, you've earned my gym badge." She passed the piece of copper metal to Joe, who took the cold pin in the palm of his hand and looked at it. It was in the shape of a 2D diamond, with a small rim of shiny light grey metal around a large yellow metal centre. "That's the plain badge." Whitney explained. "That's proof that you beat me in my own gym. Think yourself lucky. Not many trainers get to say that." She chuckled shyly, still struggling after her defeat. Joe smiled back. He had to admit the name Plain badge did fit the design. It was just one shape and two colours. Still, he took it and placed it with the collection of others he had in his badge pocket. Once that was done he, Winter and Ralph left, the sound of congratulatory clapping from the gym trainers following after them.

Outside Joe took in a deep breath of the city air. It was so good to be outside of the stuffy gym again, now with a third victory under his belt, or rather in his pocket. He rubbed the back of his head, nearly smacking Ralph in the face with his elbow. He apologised.

"I'm glad that's over finally." He muttered. Winter agreed vigorously, nodding her head. Ralph nodded harder, even though he'd hardly got to battle Whitney. "I say we don't wait. Let's get going again. The next city is only a route and a half away. We could reach it in a day I imagine."

"What about Silver?" Winter asked. "Do you think we should wait for him?"

"Screw Silver." Joe said, a little too loudly and a little too unkindly. "Who cares what he does? I certainly don't. Now come on, let's get going before anyone can inter…"

From a few metres away someone running towards them shouted it an annoying and mind breaking voice "Hold up, stranger!" Joe sighed.

"Oh great! It's the redheaded nitwit again!" He muttered. Silver reached them, panting quietly, holding a fresh pokeball in his hand.

"Where did you think you were going without me?" He demanded, an unusual beaming smile on his face.

"Nowhere." Joe sighed, not at all happy to see him.

"Where had you been all night?" Winter asked, a little concerned. Joe couldn't understand why. Silver smiled at her.

"I was out looking for worthy pokémon for my team." His grin grew wider from a slither of sun light through the blinds to a full on blast of solar light through the open curtains. "And boy did I find a good pokémon!"

"Oh really?" Joe asked, both curiously and sarcastically. "What did you catch?"

"I caught…" Silver said slowly. "An abra!" Joe looked at him.

"An abra?" He repeated. Silver nodded excitedly. "That's not really that exciting." Silver's smile faded to a scowl.

"What are you on about?" He asked. "Abra's an amazing psychic pokémon.

"No, Alakazam is! Abra is just the child version. It doesn't even know any attacks. If you can get it to evolve I'll be impressed." Winter looked at her friend. She was surprised to hear Joe, the guy who'd confronted a Rocket commander with just his own heart and nearly won, was saying that any pokémon was worthless. She hoped he was saying that just to annoy Silver, and that he didn't actually believe it. The worrying part was that it sounded almost honest. Silver grunted annoyed. He placed the ball back onto his belt.

"Of course you wouldn't see the worth of having a strong pokémon, would you?" He snapped coldly. "How did you do faring against the gym leader? Did she beat you sorry backside like I knew she would?"

"No!" Joe lied quickly. "In fact I just defeated her. You can look at the proof if you need to." He showed Silver the badge. Silver at first believed him. Then a new question appeared in his poking mind.

"So it took you an entire day to beat her?" His smile returned. "Or… did you have to rematch her." Joe became suddenly uncomfortable.

"Of course not." He fibbed. "I… I just spent a long time fighting her. She was… quite pedantic… with her tactic. She… uh… was constantly blocking all the attacks I made."

"And that took you all night." Silver raised an eyebrow cheekily.

"Just shut up already." Joe muttered.

"Now, what way do we go?" He asked. Joe suddenly looked surprised again.

"You're still coming with us?" He asked.

"Yeah." Silver said, a little too quickly. He slowed down again. "I mean, who else do I know who fights Team Rocket on a daily basis. I wanna join that party, thanks. Count me on board." He pumped a fist. Joe shrugged, defeated. He wasn't ever going to get rid of him, so may as well give up in trying.

"Alright." He muttered. "Alright, so you're coming with us. That's great. Just great." He gritted his teeth. "Come on then." He gestured, turning around and pointing himself towards the north entrance to the city. "Next stop, Ecruteak City."


	12. Chapter 12: Behind the Aces

Ruby rubbed her face with her flat palm, having yet again been thrown into another whacky and implausible situation thanks to her two incompetent companions. Sometimes she'd wished she'd had a sister and her father had given them a meowth or something else less annoying. At this current she was somewhere on route 34 (A mile or so ahead of Joe and his group.), a few metres off the main path and standing in the tall grass. She was looking at a poorly designed trap, set up by her bumbling team mates, which had, unfortunately, gone off. So now she was looking at a poorly made trap with a short spiky green haired boy and a large blob of sentient jelly stuck in it. She sighed.

"How did it happen this time?" She asked. Ross gulped. He knew that no matter what he told her he wouldn't get out of it without being shouted at.

"Well, you see…" He started. Frank chuckled for some reason. No one really figured out why, though they could make a few good guesses. "We were setting up the trap as you said, so that the net sprung up from the floor when a pokémon passed over it, when suddenly Frank caught sight of a young stantler and tried to chase it into the trap. Unfortunately a sudden stampede of them came out of nowhere and we were so busy trying to run from them we forgot about the trap. And that's why we are hanging upside down in this net." He finished. Ruby's expression explained everything to how the situation was going down. She had so much steam coming from her ears she could almost be mistaken for a steam train.

"So you're saying that a stantler, a single stantler…" She suddenly exploded like a human time bomb on loudspeaker. "A FREAKING STANTLER!" Frank and Ross flinched. "Chased you into running through your own trap?"

"Well it wasn't one at the time." Frank argued. "It started off with one, then there were many. Like, many many. It was manic, man!" Then he began to think about the previous event again, more thoroughly. "Actually, come to think about, those new stantler did pass through the grass like it wasn't even there. Did anyone else think that was weird?"

Ross thought on it too. "Yeah it kind of was, wasn't it?" He agreed. Ruby rubbed the rim of her nose, trying to both sooth her face muscles, which were aching with annoyance, and focus her mind on what she had just been told.

"Are you two really that thick skulled?" Ruby asked, furiously perplexed.

"I don't have a skull." Frank told her, clearly not getting the conversation. If Ruby had been an egg, she would have cracked.

"It was an illusion, you buffoons!" She snapped. "Stantler's defend themselves by creating danger illusion, in an attempt to scare off their aggressors." She put her arms on her hips, steaming louder and hotter like a boiling kettle. "That's, like, rule 204 in the trainer survival guide to Johto." She reached into her bag and pulled out a tatty and cheap looking old book from inside. She flicked it open half way. There were a huge amount of pages. "Here!" She pointed a finger to a specific chapter and paragraph. Ross peered at it through the net.

"I must have missed that part." He said, embarrassedly.

"More like put the book down because it was putting you to sleep." Frank translated comically but cruelly. Ross looked at him, annoyed.

"Look, could you just get us out of this net already." Ross pleaded. "The blood's going to my head. I'm seeing everything in watercolours!" Ruby sighed. As much as they deserved it, she would have to let them down again. There was only one small problem.

"Frank, do you have a knife?" She asked. Frank looked at her.

"Do you see pockets on me?" He asked. "Or a belt? Or anything that looks like a tool?"

"You're a shapeshifter!" Ruby reminder him. "Just turn your hand into a blade or something like." Frank thought for a second.

"Yeah, I could just do that." He agreed. His hand elongated and gained a toothed ridge, and Frank began to saw on the rope net around them. A few seconds later it gave way and he landed on his own blade. He exclaimed, then laughed. "Thankfully I've no internal organs, so that was totally harmless." He and Ross pulled themselves out of the net and stood up again, wiping the grass and mud of their clothes.

"You know, that's the last time I ever… EVER!... set up a trap for this group again!" He stormed off.

"Where the hell are you going?" Ruby asked.

"To get this mud off my clothes." He called back. "There's a steam nearby, isn't there."

"Uh, I wouldn't bathe in that!" Frank called after him in warning. "I imagine a lot of pokémon have done their… _business_ … in that thing." Ross turned back around and walked back over to them.

"You're right. It'll fall of eventually." He decided, dull faced.

"Does dumb get much dumber then the two of you?" Ruby asked.

"Not by much, no." Frank told her, still not getting the joke.

 **1 Hour later…**

Team Ace walked on again, back onto the main path through the route, casual and calm, the fiasco with the net far behind them. They walked on in silence for most of the time. Ruby was still angry, and it was obvious. She walked ahead of her two friends, her arms crossed and her back arched forwards. She looked like a very ticked off, sentient, bipedal, furless cat. Ross and Frank didn't dare even call her name. They knew they would only get a shouting. So they stayed quiet, letting their team sister walk on ahead. For a while they went on undistracted or uninterrupted. And then they saw a face looking at them through the tall grass.

They stopped all together, Ross and Frank nearly bumping into Ruby as they followed her gaze into the towering reeds. Through the many cells of plant life they could see two dark yellow ring eyes looking right at them with black dot pupils from what looked to be a small ball head on an incredibly long and anorexic straight neck. Behind that was a bulky body that just barely showed up through the dark green of the grass trees. They looked at the thing, and it looked back.

"What is that?" Ross asked.

"I have no idea." Ruby told him, tilting her head to get some kind of different view on the thing. Even though its head was looking straight at them it didn't seem to have noticed them. In fact, the longer they looked at it the more lifeless it seemed.

"Looks like a butt to me." Frank muttered.

"Frank!" Ruby snapped. "That's not very nice. You shouldn't call other things names like that."

"No, I mean it really does." He explained honestly. "It looks like a tail."

"What do you mean?" Ross asked.

"I mean that's not a living thing." Frank explained. "That's a living thing's tail." They looked at each other.

"Do you suppose…" Ross began. "That it's some kind of rare pokémon?" They looked at each other for a few seconds. Then Ruby began to rub her hands gleefully.

"Frank, pass me a net." She commanded. She looked down to see Frank with his flat fat flesh moulds pointing out, his face an image of confusion and defiance.

"With what hands?!" He demanded. Ruby narrowed her eyes.

"Pass. Me. A. Net!" Ruby repeated. Frank sighed.

"Don't mind me, Ross. Just grabbing a net." He mumbled as he hauled up behind the male human member of their group, reached up an elastic muscle and wrapped it around the net attacked to Ross's backpack. Ross shivered a little. The way Frank did that always disgusted him. It was like something out of a John Carpenter horror film. Frank then slunk back around, holding the net in his two small muscle arms, lending it up towards Ruby who was smiling both gratefully and disdainfully.

"Thank you, Frank." She said, snatching the long pole of metal, wood and wire out of his hand.

"Don't you mean 'Frank you'?" Frank suggested, winging a small black dot eye. Ruby kicked him aside, ashamed by his horrific humour. She tapped the net with her index fingers as it sat along both her palms. Then she gripped it tight. She pulled on the end and extended the pole, long enough for it to fit comfortable in two hands, without being too heavy, and swing at a long distance. It was like watching a soldier ready his huge extendable magnificent steel pike, And that's not an innuendo!

"Alright. I'm going in." Ruby announced. And that's also not an innuendo! "Wish me luck." Ross rolled his eyes and, nearly, scoffed.

"Like we ever do." He muttered, leaning back on thin air. Frank just took a step back, putting on his set of imaginary 3D goggle.

"This ought to be entertaining." He chuckled. Ross looked down at him.

"You know, you're a really disgusting person." He said.

"I'm not a person, kid." Frank told him. "I'm a pokémon. I don't have a concept of disgust, remember?" Frank smiled up at him. Ross blushed with recent embarrassment.

"I told you. I wasn't saying that pokémon don't think or have emotions." He said hurriedly. "I was just saying that… well they're not people. They don't have a concept of business or work or money or family or any of that stuff we do. They're just animals. I didn't mean offence." Frank narrowed his eyes and laughed.

"Maybe most pokémon are like that, but not this here blob, thank you very much."

Ruby snuck towards the tail with a face on the end, creeping carefully up behind it so she could snatch and catch the pokémon it belonged to. All the time the tail looked on, not noticing her at all, until she was too close to act. As she snuck closer however the tail suddenly twitched slightly. It moved up an inch, as if it was suddenly on high alert.

"Ruby, has it seen you?" Ross asked in a whisper

"No." Ruby hissed back. "Now shut up, you'll scare it!" Ross stepped back, apologetically. Ruby snuck a foot closer. Then the head opened its mouth. A whole row of sharp teeth became visible from what she had originally assumed was a fake mouth, gaping open with no throat and emitting a weird hissing sound, almost like that of a snake. Ruby gulped and plugged her nose as she got a whiff of serious halitosis.

"Crickey!" She exclaimed quietly. "That stinks horribly!" She snuck closer still, turning her head away so as to not be directly hit by the foul breath from the tail's mouth. She was close enough now to try and catch it. She looked at the net. It was solid and strong. It would be able to grab whatever pokémon this was with ease. She raised the net back above her head, readying to swing it down ahead of the tail, where the pokémon's really head was likely to be. Then suddenly the tail shot upwards, yet remained facing the same way. It wasn't the tail that was moving upwards. The entire rear end of the pokémon's body had kicked off the ground. And now two long black legs, ending with two small hooves, were ramming their way through the air towards her. Ruby didn't even get time to react. Before she knew it she was flying backwards, screaming as the two hooved feed rammed her in the chest and kicked her backwards in an upward slant. She landed painfully on her side, looking down at the path north, coughing with recoil and surprise. Ross rushed over to her, lazily followed by Frank who was too busy laughing.

"Are you okay?" Ross asked, checking his friend and rolling her over. Ruby growled, her face, as it came into view, looking a portrait of inexorable fury.

"Of course I'm okay!" She shouted at him. Ross was taken aback by her sudden spurring anger. "The damn thing kicked me!" Ruby complained as she sat up, breathing heavily and rubbing the area of her chest where she'd been kicked. Fortunately it didn't feel like she'd broken anything. "It damn well kicked me in it did!" She repeated, trying to stand again. Ross gave her a hand, and she twisted it in anger.

"To be honest you did deserve it." Frank told her, deciding it was better for him to not be helpful rather than be helpful. Ruby looked at him.

"Shut up!" She said simply, and Frank shut up. Ross recovered from the hand twisting, shook away the pain and added in his own interpretation of the situation.

"Do you think that was an automatic response, or do you think it knows we're here now?" He asked. Ruby looked at him, unhappily. Then she looked back at where the pokémon had been, and suddenly realised that, indeed, it was looking at them now. But it wasn't just the tail's fake eyes that were doing so. Past the snarling black ball head on the end was another head, this one on yellow skin and a longer, fatter yellow neck. It was just visible in the dark of the tall grass, but clearly there. The most visible part were the bright eyes, which were white and large, with colourful dark brown-blue irises and large glistening pupils. The eyes sat on the sides of a white and yellow head. Down the front of the face rana large white stripe, passing over all the detail from the small rounded white ossicones at the top of its head past its ears, to the tip of its big flat pink nose at the very end of its snout. The rest of its head and neck was a slightly dark yellow shade. It looked at the two human's, its ears twitching from their place pointing diagonally out from the side of its head, its large eyes unblinking. Ross and Ruby looked back.

"I have never seen any pokémon like that before." Ruby muttered, in mild awe at its form.

"It's got two heads!" Ross said.

"That's a pseudo head." Frank told them. "It's just a tail that looks and acts like a head." They looked at the pokémon. The pokémon looked back. Then it bolted.

"Hey, get back here!" Ruby shouted as she suddenly jumped into action, charging after it, the net swinging in front of her like an axe wrapped in fishing line. Ross and Frank watched her chase after the odd looking creature, disappear into the tall grass, and not reappear for a few minutes. They stood on the road, tapping their feet, whistling and doing literally nothing of any use.

"I hate when this happens." Ross muttered after a while.

"So do I." Frank agreed.

Ruby sprinted like a two legged cheetah through the tall grass, ramming through reed after reed that whipped in her way, desperately tailing down the creature she had spotted. At this point she was only a few metres away, as the creature was a lot faster, but it was beginning to slow down and Ruby was quickly catching up. It left a path of crushed grass blades and stomped hoof prints in the dirt for her to follow when she lost sight of it. Soon though, after almost a minute of giving chase, Ruby finally caught up. The creature was exhausted, hardly running anymore but still trying to escape. Ruby readied her net. Now she had a perfect chance to nab it. Then the creature turned around in mid run and stared her down, facing her with its primary head and looking her face to face. Ruby skidded to a stop, the net swinging in her hands, but not towards the pokémon yet. Now that they were in a more open area of grass she had a proper view of it. The creature was a giraffe, or at least reminiscent of a giraffe. The whole front of its body was the same skin colour, vibrant yellow with brown diamond spots down the side of its neck and ribs. However the entire back half was a dark black brown colour, with yellow diamond spots instead, exactly reverse pattern to the front. It looked at Ruby, eyes narrowed, dragging one of its front hooves across the dirt. It was preparing to fight her off now, running having not worked. Ruby stood with her arms readied at her side, her fingers twitching, prepare to act when t did. She believed she'd be able to grab hold of it as it charged in, without taking too much force from its charge. The giraffe pokémon reared slightly on its back legs and charge, its head lowered. Ruby dived aside, allowing the beast to run past, nearly hitting her. It skidded, stopped and turned, flicking its head as it confronted its chaser. Ruby readied the net again, which she'd accidentally dropped on the ground as she dodged the attack. The pokémon charged again, now enraged by its chaser, rather than terrified by her. Ruby jumped aside and swung her net down. The pokémon's head was caught dead centre in it, and it kept moving, shaking its head frantically as it tried to dislodge the metal bar and cubed wire mesh from its ossicones. Ruby grinned thankfully as she netted her catch. Then her expression suddenly switched to one of sudden shocking surprise and mild fear when she was dragged forwards by the full brunt of the trying to escape pokémon. She held onto the net for dear life with both hands, eventually managing to get her feet back properly standing on the ground and she dug her heels into the ground, trying to fight against the creature. It suddenly yanked to a halt as Ruby's weight and pulling force combatted its charging force.

"Hold still, you stupid beast!" Ruby grunted as she tugged, but the giraffe creature was proving to be incredibly defiant. With all her strength focused into her left arm, Ruby released the grip of her net with her right hand, lowering it down to her pokeball belt and picking of one empty ball. It was time for her to make the catch. The giraffe beast, pulled desperately, but it was clearly beginning to tire out. Its pushes against her slowly got weaker and more desperate.

"You want to fight a net? Well how about fighting a pokeball?!" Ruby shouted probably the first one liner she'd ever done to that point and threw the pokeball. It whistled through the air and landed gracefully and calmly on the back of the trying to escape creature. It tapped onto its spine spike, button first, popped open, released the recognisable white light, and then it was gone. The ball dropped to the floor and stayed there. It shook three times, then it was all over. The catch was made. Ruby cheered with delight.

"And that's how it's done!" She cheered for herself. Upon discovering that there was, in fact, no one else there to cheer her on, she walked up to the now occupied pokeball and picked it up in her hand. "What a strange pokémon, though." She muttered to herself, considering the shape and structure of the pokémon she had just caught, before it had been sealed away in a small red and white ball. It was no pokémon she had ever seen before, which automatically made it a Johto pokémon. But even so it looked… unique. It had two heads. Okay one was a pseudo head, but still, it many respects that still counted. She looked at the pokeball, inspecting it for damage and contemplating what on earth it was she'd just caught, when something rectangular and red started buzzing from inside her bag. She looked inside and pulled out her own personal pokédex. She liked to think it belonged to her, but in truth it had been given to both her and Ross as a trainer present from their father. Even calling it a present was a bit too kind. He'd simply thrown it at them and told them to get out of his face. She flicked the lid open and looked at the screen, which was small and blinking with power and information.

"Okay, Mr. Dex." Ruby muttered, tapping the sides of the useful trainer device. "What information do you have for me today?" The pokédex let out a final single bleep, then began rolling information down the screen. An image appeared, and a name, and a type, and a size, and a description. It was the entry data for the pokémon she'd just caught. She read it closely. It went as follows.

 _'_ _Girafarig: The Long Neck Pokémon. Type: Normal/Psychic. Size: 4'11 Foot or 1.5 Meters. Weight: 91 Pounds or 41.5 Kilograms. As well as intense psychic abilities, Girafarig's tail also has a small brain in it. When approached from behind, it picks up a predators scent and will attacked if provoked.'_

"So it's a psychic type, huh?" Ruby repeated to herself, grinning mischievously. "And it's a Girafarig." She closed the pokédex and looked at the pokeball. "Welcome to the family." She said to it. "The Ace family." The pokeball just sat in her hand.

A minute later she walked back out of the tall grass to be lazily greeted by a half asleep Ross and a fully unconscious Frank waiting on the road and leaning back on the concrete.

"What are you two doing sitting down?" Ruby shouted at them. "Why weren't you helping me chase it down." Ross and Frank sat up sharply, startled by their group leader's maddened shouting.

"Huh? What?" Frank shouted, taken by surprise as Ruby returned, one pokémon extra. He looked at the pokeball in her right hand and the slightly battered net in her left. He smiled and lifted up his 3D glasses of an invisible nose. "Did you get it?" He asked.

"Yes I did." Ruby told him, stomping across the cut grass and onto the path again, looking down at her two comrades. "No thanks to you two. Again!" The two male beings looked at her.

"Hey now, that's not very fair." Ross complained. "We didn't think you needed the help. You just ran off on your own. We assumed you knew what you were doing." He tried to come up with a reasonable explanation to why he didn't help, but it didn't work.

"As it turned out I didn't need the two of you." She told him, slightly spitefully. "But someone there to help me catch it would have been useful. It would have at least make the catch quicker and stopped me busting up the net a bit." She threw the pole of metal and mesh at Ross, who caught it only just in both hands, recoiling a little from the surprise of being thrown it as he tried to stand up during.

"So what even was that thing?" Frank asked, still not taking of his ridiculous 3D glasses.

"It's something called a Girafarig." Ruby told them. "The pokédex filled me in on the information. Apparently it's a psychic _and_ a normal type." Ross whistled, impressed.

"That sounds like a potent mix." He said with a cocky smile. "Both a strong physical attacker and a special attacker."

"Let's hope so, if it's going to be on our team." Frank told them. "So what are you naming it?" Ruby though for a second. It didn't take long for her to come up with an idle name.

"I like the sound of Gary." She told them. Ross tried to hide a snorting chuckle.

"Gary?" He repeated, holding his mouth with a flat hand. Ruby nodded, looking coldly at him.

"Yes, Gary." She repeated. Even Frank was laughing now. He was holding his own mouth, too.

"Gary the Giraffe." Frank repeated.

"Gary the Girafarig!" Ruby corrected him. Frank snorted.

"That's just as ridiculous!" He told her, bursting out into squeaking chuckles. Ruby looked at the two of them.

"Of stop laughing!" She snapped. "His name is Gary and that's final. Neither of you are changing that.

"Oh don't worry." Ross told her, trying to push himself back of the floor. "We don't plan too." He began coughing, chocking on his own guffaws. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"It's not that funny." She muttered, annoyed.

"Yes it is!" Frank argued, struggling with the same problem.

* * *

They continued on again, after taking a quick rest to get their strength back after a seriously needed exhale of laughter. Once that was done Team ace were back onto the road, walking on to their next destination: anywhere but here! As they wandered Ruby found herself thinking back to the catch she had just made. Something about it was bothering her.

"Ross?" She asked.

"Yes, Ruby?" Ross asked, kindly but slightly hesitantly.

"Was what I did right?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Ross asked her.

"I mean chasing Gary down like that. She explained. "It's not really any different to what we usually do. I saw it, took my net out and gave chase, eventually locking it in the mesh and snagging it with a free ball. No different to how we usually catch pokémon. But this time something didn't feel right."

"In what way?" Ross pressed, curious by what she was thinking.

"I don't know." She explained. "Somehow it felt… inhumane. It felt like I was a tyrant for what I was doing. I felt bad, and I don't know why. It felt like I was scaring it. Like I was causing it pain." She looked him in the face. "Is that what we do to the pokémon we catch?" She asked. "Is that what we make them feel? Do we scare them? Do we rip them from their homes, from their rightful places? Are we… the bad guys?" Ross had no idea what to say. The thought that maybe they were wrong had plagued his mind every now and then, but because Ruby had been assertive he'd just assumed he was wrong. But now it was her thinking this. Maybe there was something in there area of thinking that was not ethical. It was totally possible. But if he looked for it, he wouldn't know what it was.

"I wouldn't know." He told her simply, unable to think how he could answer a question like this. Instead of being smart he decided to be honest. "Something about us always felt wrong in that respect." He told her, looking away as he tried to word his sentence into an understandable explanation. "Maybe we are a little too rough or unkind towards the pokémon in the wild. Well, maybe you are. As for me and Frank I think we speak for ourselves." Ruby nodded.

"Yeah. Every pokémon you catch is by accident." She laughed. Ross smiled. That was sounding more like the normal discontented Ruby he knew.

"I wouldn't know how to catch pokémon." Ross continued. "Neither of us were properly taught. We didn't go to school after all. But if you don't want to continue doing it this way we can try another method." Ruby looked at him.

"Is there another method?" She pondered. Ross shrugged back.

"Maybe." He told her. "That Joe trainer we keep running into uses a different method to us. He actually battles the pokémon a little then catches them."

"How is that any better then what we do?" Ruby asked, perplexed. "He's still attacking and scaring pokémon, like we do. So why is our method the shunned one?" There was a long following silence. Around them the whole world seemed to mute as all three of them thought on the subject. It seemed that, at this point, there was no really answer.

"I think…" Frank spoke up finally. "That, whatever we do, we're going to be dislike. That's kind of just us in a nutshell." He took a deep breath as he worked on his speech. "So I think that we should just do things the way we want to do them and not pay any attention to what others think." Ruby and Ross looked at him. Then they turned to each other with surprised expressions.

"That's probably the smartest thing Frank has ever said." Ruby took note. Ross nodded in agreement. Most of the time Frank's comments would either be stupid, half-assed, lazy, about food, about the distance to the next town or, most commonly, some kind of awful pun joke. Hearing this one small smart sentence was like finding a glistening 2 karat diamond in a 10 mile pile of stinking rotten manure.

"I agree." Ross said, his eyes as wide as hers at what he had heard. Frank looked at them, a little disappointed.

"Hey, I've said other smart stuff!" He complained.

"Like what?" Ruby asked, almost actually interested.

"Well…" Frank thought. "I… I told you how to cook Oran berry pie!" He told her.

"No you didn't." Ruby argued. "You told me to make one, then you annoyed me by saying 'no, no, you don't put that much sugar in it', or constantly complaining about the amount of berries in it." Frank shrugged his flesh shoulders.

"You didn't put enough berries in." He told her, now feeling a little hurt. He wasn't very hurt, they said things like this to him all the time. "You only put thirty in. Thirty's not enough.

"It is for me." Ruby argued. "Anyway they were crushed, so the juice went into the pie, not the berries themselves."

"You just outright ignore my advice." Frank moaned, decrepitly.

"Shut up." Ruby said. "Anyway, what are we doing standing around. We have a new town to reach, so come on!" She began walking again, forgetting all about the conversation they'd had, forgetting all about the Oran berry pie, forgetting all about Frank being annoying, forgetting everything she had felt about their methods a few minutes ago. Now she was back on track and in focus, and nothing was stopping her. Ross and frank followed slowly after her, Ross simply looking upset and Frank looking rather hurt.

They walked on for a while uninterrupted. And then they heard the sound of a large kafuffle going on ahead of them. Team Ace stopped in their tracks as they saw a large group of figures, around ten of them, walking out of the tall grass several metres away and standing in their group in the middle of the path. They recognised the uniforms instantly. They were all wearing black outfits with black gloves and boots with red R logos on. Team Ace stepped back quickly, sidestepped and jumped straight into the tall grass. Once they were hidden Ruby spoke up.

"That was Team Rocket!" She whispered. "What are they doing back? I thought they were all defeated or arrested?"

"Maybe some of they got lucky and evaded the police." Ross suggested. Then he began to think about this point, too. "Actually, do you remember the other day, when we ran into Joe and Winter for the first time in this region?" He asked. Ruby and Frank nodded. "Well, Joe said something about Team Rocket. Remember the gunshot we heard. He seemed really persistent it was them."

"What does this have to do with the subject at hand?" Ruby asked, unhappily.

"Well…" Ross began.

"Suppose he knew that they were still around and he was preparing to have to fight them again?" Frank butted in. They looked at him.

"That's actually quite smart." Ruby muttered.

"That is literally exactly what I was about to say." Ross grumbled.

"So why would they want to come to Johto?" Ruby pondered. "If they already had a strong presence in Kanto, why migrate to another region where you have little to no presence? It seems like an odd move to me."

Frank looked out from their hiding place and back down the path that had been ahead of them. The rocket grunts were moving again, but not in any actually direction. Instead they were setting up equipment on the road. It seemed to be some kind of mining machine, though not obviously. There was no drill or pickaxe near the group or anywhere on the route. Around the machine the grunts were setting up multiple battery boxes, the wires tangled around each other and leading into the largest machine, which looked like some kind of enormous black-iron drum. Frank watched as one of the grunts placed a hand on the top of the drum like machine and pressed down a button. As he did so the machine seemed to kick into sudden life, emitting a terrifyingly high pitched screeching into the ground. Unfortunately on Frank had to suffer the sound, as it was too high for human ears to hear, although several pokémon nearby covered their ears and ran away, trying to escape the terrible blast. The battery boxes attached to the device began to fuzz and spark as the blasting sound got louder and further away from the device. Frank covered his ears in desperation to protect himself from the skull cracking noise. In his effort to he accidentally let out a small painful scream. His mind was turning to slush with the vibrations in his ears that the ear piercing blast of sound was causing. Suddenly he found himself being dragged back into the tall grass, away from the road and out of sight of the turning grunts. He was back in cover. The sound hadn't gone away yet, but at least here it was muted slightly, so it wasn't as bad. Still Frank had to hold his ears shut.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ruby snapped, furious at his actions. "You could have just given us away! What were you thinking?" Frank looked at her, hardly able to hear a word she said.

"WHAT?!" He asked loudly.

"Frank, stop shouting!" Ross told him with a panicky voice. "You're being too loud!"

"I'M BEING TOO LOUD?!" Frank shouted over the unheard din. "CAN'T YOU HEAR THAT THING? I CAN HARDLY THINK RIGHT NOW, IT'S SO EAR BLAZINGLY LOUD." The two trainers looked at each other. Then they peered their own heads out through the tall grass. They saw the variety of machinery laid out the field next to the path, they saw the grunts working around it, they saw the large drum machine thumping into the ground… but they heard nothing. They hid back inside the tall grass.

"What are they doing up there?" Ross wondered aloud.

"I don't even begin to know?" Ruby told him. "It looked like some kind of… well I don't know what, but some kind of machine." She looked at Frank. "Why were you shouting?" Ruby asked him.

"WHAT?!" Frank asked.

"Why were you shouting?!" Ruby shouted at him.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF OVER THAT MACHINE!" Frank told her. "IT'S BLASTING OUT LIKE A REMBLING VOLCANO!" Ruby looked at Ross.

"If Frank can hear it from hear, and this loudly, then it must be emitting some kind of high pitch sound we can't hear because it goes over the human hearing limit."

"What kind of a machine does that?" Ross asked, confused.

"The only thing I can think of that might do that is some kind of tool that uses echo location." Ruby explained.

"Like what bat's use?" Ross asked.

"Yes." Ruby told him, appealing to his first grade science understanding.

"Well what machines use that?" Ross continued to ask.

"I think some Metal Detectors use it to create waves underground and find the location of hidden metal. Something to do with the sound reflecting of objects, revealing where it is placed underground."

"I thought most metal detectors used electromagnetic fields to find metal?" Ross told her. Ruby paused.

"I'm sure there's some that use echo location. Maybe ones used in mining." Suddenly puzzle pieces snapped into place. "They must be trying to locate something underground." She realised. "That's the only thing I could think they were doing with gear like that."

"I DIDN'T SEE ANY MINING TOOLS!" Frank told them, still shouting over the blasting noise only he could hear.

"Then maybe they're just here to find the location of something, then come back for it later." Ruby suggested. "Either way, they're here, and they're likely up to no good."

"Then we should try and stop them, shouldn't we?" Ross suggested. Ruby huffed.

"No. That's what that Joe trainer does. He bothers with all that. It's not important to us."

"But what if they're gone by the time he gets here?" Ross suggested. "What if they overpower him?"

"With his crobat there, I highly doubt it." Ruby butted in.

"Ruby, we should try and do something, even if it's just leave." Ross tried to convince her. "You were saying about not feeling like we're the good guys, well we have a chance to prove it here. We should get up and face those Rocket morons before they're already gone whatever they came for. We should…"

"Ross." Ruby said, looking at him suddenly. "Shut up!" Ross looked hurt.

"I was only trying to help." He muttered.

"No, I mean shut up!" Ruby told him, looking wide eyed straight at him. It took Ross a second to realise that she wasn't actually looking at him, but rather behind him. Slowly Ross turned around and found himself looking into the face of a purple haired, slant faced, thin, wrinkled, middle aged man looking at them through the grass reeds. He was wearing the black uniform and white gloves of a Team Rocket commander. In his left hand was a small handgun, and in his right hand was some kind of bludgeon. He was kneeling down behind him, the gun barrel aimed at his lower spine.

"Don't mind me." He said in a slimy snobby British accent. "Just pretend I'm not here."

"Why the hell are you?" Ross asked. The commander with the gun to his back laughed slightly.

"You can call me Petrel." He said. The gun barrel prodded Ross in the back sharply. "Now. Do as I say, or you'll regret it - quite severely so." He shifted the gun up for a second. "Stand up, all three of you." The three members of Team Ace looked at him.

"What do you want from us?" Ruby asked. Petrel let out a small snigger.

"What do I want?" He asked. "What makes you think I want something from you? You were nearby, making so much noise you could be heard from the dark side of the moon." Ross and Ruby looked at Frank, who was shrugging into his own skin, pretending not to be there. They looked at him hatefully. He cowered away. "So I'm here to shut you up" Commander Petrel continued. "And the most reliable way to shut someone up is to put them out!" He smiled evilly, revealing a long row of yellow teeth. "But I'm not that evil." He continued.

"Are you not, now?" Ruby said, looking unimpressed.

"Instead, you three are coming with me!" He told them.

"And what will you do if we don't?" Ross asked, trying to seem confident bur really failing. The gun to his back wasn't helping him in any way. Petrel clapped his hands once, but sharply. The sudden snap sound echoed around the grass field. And out of the grass, encircling the trio, came five floating bulky purple koffing, each of them with a dumb expression on their face and noxious gasses seeping from out of the holes in their bodies.

"If you don't, then they get to practice their explosive abilities." Petrel told them, looking pleased with himself. "And, if you're lucky enough to survive that, you won't feel that way after." He added. "Now, get up and get moving!" Team Ace stood up. This was the worst predicament they could be in at this point.

"Still, this isn't as bad as some other predicaments we've been in, right?" Frank said, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Shut up, Frank!" Ross and Ruby said together. He was right though. How could it get much worse than this? As it turned out, it was quite easy.

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far away in fact, the path that Team Ace had treaded was now being re-treaded by a well-known face, his two human friends and one crobat. Joe stepped quickly and carefree on the stone pathway, following the sky north. He was feeling happy and uplifted, as he had just defeated Whitney, the third gym leader of the Johto region, and he was rather thankful about it. The battle hadn't been an easy one, not by any means. He'd had to fight her a second time before he could win. But he had won and it had given him a clear sign of his own skill. He kept this one important fact in his mind. He was going to use it to rub it in Silver's face. He still didn't like Silver that much. He found the boy to be arrogant and ignorant. He seemed to only see pokémon as tools, a mind-set Joe found disgusting. He boasted about how his pokémon were strong and Joe's were weak. Well now Joe had some evidence against that, though he imagined Silver wouldn't give a damn anyway. He'd probably just point out the fact that he had to battle a second time in order to beat her. Joe scoffed at the idea. He didn't see silver carrying any badges.

As he walked he looked up at the sky. The white cotton clouds darted overhead on a slow autumnal breeze. Ralph was not flying above them today. Instead he was located firmly above the ground, flying a few feet ahead of his trainer. Joe laughed a little as he saw his partner dance happily through the air. Ralph seemed rather full of energy, today. Joe didn't know why. Maybe he was just excited about getting back into all the battling and traveling, like they had done in Kanto. Joe was also enjoying the new adventure. He was just hoping he didn't lose another pokémon like he had before. Behind him Winter walked, standing close but not too close, also with a small smile on her face. Behind her Silver followed, looking smug about the new pokémon he'd caught. He was looking for a battle to use it in.

The group continued on down the path in quiet calm. Then, suddenly, Ralph stopped in his tracks. He floated, staring down the path ahead, his eyes wide with pain, his wings flapping slowly, his ears twitching wildly. Joe stepped forwards, concerned. Then Ralph began to screech with pain, he dropped from the air, landing standing on his ting feet, using his small wings as balancers, and desperately trying to cover his ears with his wings. Joe began to panic.

"Ralph? What's wrong?" He asked. Ralph didn't look at him. He desperately tugged at his ears, trying to fill them with dirt, trying to block out something. Joe however couldn't hear anything.

"What's Ralph doing?" Winter asked, also suddenly concerned for him. Joe turned to her.

"I don't know." Joe told her. "Maybe the heat's getting to him." He suggested the idea. But when he stood in front of his partner and looked him in the eye he saw something else. He saw severe sensory pain in his wide yellow eyes. He was suffering, and something they couldn't see, or hear, was causing it. Joe turned to Winter and Silver. "Find something to block up his ears with." He instructed.

"Like what?" Winter asked, jumping into action.

"Anything." Joe told her. "Leaves, mud, pieces of cloth, anything you can use to block sound out." Winter nodded and dashed off, scooping up piles of leaves from nearby trees and covering them in dry mud.

"Why?" Silver asked, not moving from where he was standing. Joe looked at him, constantly annoyed by his attitude.

"Because Ralph's suffering." He explained. "He has a stronger hearing then we do, and clearly there's something nearby that's hurting him. It's most likely something louder then we can hear, as he is a bat." Silver still stayed standing.

"It's not my problem." He said. Joe stared at him.

"Why are you being so cruel?" He asked, hurt by his ignorance. "Can't you see he's in pain? Help Winter!"

"Fine!" Silver huffed and turned around, walking away to help Winter gather leaves. Joe hugged Ralph, pulling him around and looking him in the face. Ralph's eyes were darting around everywhere, his head was wrinkling with pain. His ears continued to twitch as his eardrums shattered with the sound only he could hear.

"Ralph, look at me, buddy." Joe said, looking him in the eyes. Ralph looked back at him. "What's the problem? Can you hear something?" Joe asked, kindly but inquisitively. Ralph nodded. "Okay, where's the sound coming from?" He continued to ask. Ralph looked past him. Joe looked back, up the path he had been heading down. "It's coming from ahead of us." Joe repeated to himself. Ralph screeched again, right in Joe's ear, causing him to recoil and cover his own ears. Winter arrived back with a handful of muddied leaves. "Get some of them in his ears, quick. We need to block out the sound." Joe explained.

"What sound?" Winter asked as she handed Joe a pile and began pushing them gently through Ralph's ear hole.

"Something up ahead is making a loud sound we can't hear, but he can." Joe explained.

"Are you sure?" Winter asked.

"Ralph certainly is." Joe told her.

"Yeah, but he's a pokémon. How does he know what's wrong?" Silver asked, returning with hardly five leaves in his hands. Joe snatched them and began filling up Ralph's other ear.

"Ralph's not stupid." He said simply. "He knows when something's causing him pain." He patted Ralph on the wing shoulder. "This should help deafen it down." Joe told him.

In Ralph's mind the horrible brain slicing high pitch sound suddenly died down as the leaves were placed in his ears. It didn't go away, but it did become quiet and more tolerable. He opened his eyes again and looked about. He felt weakened, but still able to get back up. Slowly he pushed himself of the floor and back into the air. He looked at Joe with a still rather pained expression. Joe smiled at him.

"Good boy." He muttered, patting Ralph on the back. Ralph shook a little with weakened nerve. "Now, lead us to the cause, so we can shut it up." He instructed. Ralph, just able to hear him over the high pitch sound and through the leaves in his ears, nodded and flew off, moving faster, but not too much faster, down the path they had been treading.

"Where's he taking us now?" Silver asked.

"To whatever it was that was causing him pain." Winter explained.

"And we should follow, too." Joe added.

* * *

Ross, Ruby and Frank were led by the ring of koffings and the one armed Rocket commander over to the waiting group of nine grunts by the machinery they had been setting up. The thud of the echo location drum was like torture to Frank. He was squealing and wailing as he got closer, eventually having be dragged and held quiet by Petrel himself, as he kicked the other two members of Team Ace into the middle of the group. The other grunts looked at them, mostly surprised by their existence, but also seemingly a little aggravated by it. They seemed annoyed that they were there, as if they were interrupting their mission. They were, but not on purpose. Petrel shoved the trio into a corner at the edge of the group and equipment, leaving them for the koffings to keep in place. The threat of being blown up was enough to keep them where they were.

"Keep an eye on these three." Commander Petrel instructed the closest grunt, pointing at Team Ace as he did so. "I caught them sneaking up on us from route 35. Also keep an eye open for any others sneaking up on us. They might have friends with them." From behind him Petrel heard Ruby scoff, disapprovingly.

"Like we have friends!" She muttered.

"WHAT?!" Frank asked, loudly, his ears all but shattered from the high pitched sound only he and the koffings could hear. Surprisingly enough they weren't reacting to the blasting sound. They seemed to hardly be bothered by it. Maybe they were deaf.

"Oh, and find something to shut the ditto up with." Petrel added.

"Yes, sir." The grunt said.

"WHAT?!" Frank asked again. He didn't get a chance to ask it again as the grunt turned back around, with a line of cloth in his hands, and wrapped it roughly around Frank's head, covering his mouth. Now all he could do was mumbled with the piece of material in his mouth. Ruby had to admit she was grateful to not have to hear the constant shouting.

"Good." Commander Petrel muttered, turning back to his men. "Now get working. We need to find what the boss wants as soon as possible. And for the love of god no one spill any coffee onto the machinery. It's very sensitive stuff, and, if it breaks, we fail, and you all knows what happens then!" Each and every grunt there, including the commander himself, shuddered with fear. Then they got on working, keeping their eyes on their set pieces of machinery, watching and working as the huge echoing drum boomed sound into the ground. Frank was whining distraughtly now. The sound seemed to have destroyed his brain, not that there was one in his head to begin with. Ross and Ruby glanced at each other, their hands bound and surrounded still by five excited looking Koffing. They were eagerly waiting for just one of them to try escaping. If they did, the result would be explosive.

"Yet another ridiculous situation we've gotten ourselves into." Ruby muttered.

"Why does this always happen to us?" Ross muttered. Ruby looked at his hands, which were tied behind his back. However the grunts had missed something he had open to him still. Ross carried his pokeballs on the back of his belt, and one of them was just about close enough for him to open.

"Ross." Ruby whispered.

"What?" Ross whispered back.

"Can you reach the pokeball near your hand?" She asked quietly. Ross felt his fingers around, trying to find if one was near his arms. One of his fingers rubbed the side the closest pokeball.

"I think so?" He replied.

"Good." Ruby said. "Can you release it?" She asked. Ross thought for a second.

"I think so." He told her. He reached back for the ball and, after a few tries, managed to press in the button. The ball popped open with a loud snap and flash, as Ross's dunsparce appeared on the grassy floor. Immediately Ruby looked around. She threated that the sound of a releasing pokémon had been heard and that the guards were already onto them. Unfortunately some of them had heard the sound, but hadn't seen where it came from, and were looking around wildly, quickly made paranoid that someone was about to attack.

"Great! Good job!" Ruby whispered. "Now get it to cut the ropes, quickly!" She hissed. Ross tried to look back at his pokémon. Dunsparce was lying on its belly, its tinny wings fluttering and it's pointed tail waiving in the air.

"Duke, cut these ropes." Ross instructed. His dunsparce, Duke, looked at his back, slowly bringing its large eyes down towards his bound hands. "Hurry up!" Ross edged on. "We need to get out of here. Just chew through the rope, please!" Duke made a small grumbling sound with its stomach, then bit down on the piece of rope around Ross's wrists and began chewing. It was a slow process. Because Duke didn't have any teeth he couldn't cut through the rope quick enough. "Come on!" Ross complained, kicking his legs which he had been forced to sit on. Ruby sighed.

"This is just going great." She muttered, hopelessly. One of the grunts turned and looked straight at her. Fortunately Duke was just out of sight beside her. "Hurry up!" She hissed as the grunt looked away. The chewing went on for a minute or so. Frank continued to moan in pain constantly. Then, finally, Duke cut through the rope and Ross was free.

"Thank you, Dukey." He said, patting the dunsparce on the head.

"Duun-Sparce!" Duke said, loudly. Ruby would have face palmed if her hands had been free. The second Duke made a noise, all of the grunts, and the koffing, turned around and saw Ross with his hands free and Duke out of his pokeball, a line of rope in his mouth and in front of his lap.

"They're trying to escape!" One grunt shouted immediately.

"Stop them!" Another yelled. The grunts began reaching for nearby tools and weapons to subdue the trio if they tried to run.

"Good job, genius!" Ruby muttered, looking at Ross and Duke, who was confused by what he had done wrong.

"Sorry." Ross murmured. The grunts closed in on them, several of them reaching for their own pokeballs. The koffings surrounding them were primed and ready to blow up like tiny atom bombs. At this point Team Ace had accepted the fact. They were likely going to die.

Then something large and purple slammed through the koffing, knocking two away to the ground in a singly swipe. The grunts stepped back as a large male crobat loomed over the entire group, small muddy leaves blocking up his ears. Ralph stared at them, furious and ready for a big fight.

"That's a crobat!" One grunt muttered.

"Do you think it's the one that been causing us trouble?" Another ask. A few seconds of thinking passed. All the grunts looked at Ralph. Then they stepped backwards again, getting further away from it. Meanwhile Ross was removing Ruby's binds, and she was rather thankful to have her hands free again. They saw Ralph protecting them, and immediately questions popped into their head. The main one was…

"If he's here, then where's his trainer?" Ross asked. At that very second they saw Joe running towards them, a pokeball in each hand as he prepared to jump straight into the battle. Beside him Winter was following, also with two pokeballs out. As she ran she threw the two pokeballs, releasing a rapidly spinning Staryu and a defiant looking pidgeotto. Both pokémon charged, arriving quickly and striking over several grunt who were preparing to fight.

"To arms, you fools!" The commander shouted, only just now realising what was happening and taking some kind of lazy action on it. Each grunt reached for their pokeballs, withdrawing a variety of zubats, rattatas, ekans, sandshrews, drowzees and even a grimer here and there. The commander, however, did not release any of his own pokémon yet. Joe also released his two pokeballs, shouting as he did so.

"Team Rocket!" He yelled. Every grunt and commander in the area turned and looked at him. "You will not get away with… whatever you are doing!" He managed to not leave a large gap during that sentence as he didn't even know what they were doing. His two pokeballs landed and released a rather tough and confident looking bayleef and an excited and energetic little marill. Both pokémon charged, bayleef lowering its flat green head and charging through a row on grunt pokémon, and marill curled up and rolled in, knocking pokémon over like bowling pins. As it rolled it sped up and gained strength.

"Take these fools out." Commander Petrel yelled. Then suddenly something small and yellow popped into existence next to the captives he had taken. And holding onto that was a fourteen year old redheaded boy with dark blue jacket. The koffings had been alerted to it, too. The three remaining balls of gas turned at the sound and looked, wide eyed, at the abra and boy now standing between them. Instantly they took action. They puffed up and bit their lips, squinting their eyes as their bodies expanded with flammable gas. The boy held out a hand to Team Ace.

"Come on. Let's go before they pop!" Ross and Ruby didn't have time to think. They scooped up Frank in their arms and took hold of Silver's outstretched hand. Then they all vanished in a flash of pink psychic energy, not before Silver managed to shove one of the koffings away, pushing it close to the machinery. The koffings couldn't stop themselves now. One by one they all popped, creating a huge blast radius, at least twice the size each of them had been. Anyone nearby found themselves knocked back to the ground, and the area of grass Team Ace had been kept on was now charred and dusty. The one koffing that had been kicked away did the most damage. As it exploded, it struck the side of the high pitch sound producing drum that the rockets had been trying to protect. The machine was destroyed instantly, the blast ending up right on top of it, the batteries plugged into it popping like electronic fireworks and sending sparks up into the sky. The sparks landed and caused small fires around the area. Winter immediately jumped onto stopping them.

"Staryu, put out the fires!" She yelled. Staryu sprayed a huge hydro pump all over the field from a long distance, quickly causing the small fires started to fade away into nothing more than cinders that would not re-ignite. The commander looked on in horror at what had happened to his machinery. The drum was cracked and bent, covered in dents and most likely made unfixable. The high pitch screeching had stopped and now both Frank and Ralph and all of the pokémon nearby were relieved to be able to think straight again. Frank pulled of the piece of cloth wrapped around him mouth and exclaimed.

"Thank freaking Christ, I can talk again!" Ross and Ruby were less happy about this then he was.

Commander Petrel turned to Ralph, looking furious. He reached for his gun. Suddenly something small and blue struck him in the leg, knocking him over. The commander landed face first in the mud, exclaiming in pain as Mar rolled away, a small smile on his face. The commander glared at him no.

"So that's how you want to play?" He asked. He reached for his last pokeball. "Alright. All I can do is oblige. Go, Raticate!" He threw the pokeball and released a towering, vicious looking raticate onto the field. Ralph was too busy fighting of the grunts which were now trying to grab him, so he didn't see the raticate sneaking up on him. However Mar and Team Ace did.

"We should help them." Ross told his team mates. Ruby looked less enthusiastic about the idea.

"You can go ahead." She told him. "But I'm not getting involved. I'm getting out of here before this gets any more destructive. She turned tail and ran, leaving Ross alone to help out. He sighed. Ruby could be annoyed when she did that. He turned on the commander and released his own pokémon.

"Come on out, Spikes and Star!" He threw his pokeballs and released his nidorino and his ledyba. Both his pokémon readied up to attack. "Double kick, Comet Punch!" He commanded. His two pokémon charged, both heading for Raticate, who was about to strike. Their combined attack sent it flying across the field, stunned and shaking from the force. It pushed itself up, and was crushed again by another attack, this one from Mar using rollout. The tiny marill rammed into its face, knocking it out instantly. And when Mar uncoiled it suddenly became clear that he was no longer the small marill he had been. His ears had elongated, into handing thing pieces. His tail had grown longer, still with the blue bauble on the end, but now a thicker stock. He stood at least a foot taller, with white bubble patterns on his lower body. He smiled at everyone, happily. At some point during the battle he had evolved into an Azumarill. The commander gulped. He stepped back.

"This isn't over!" He hissed, returning all six of his pokémon. "Team Rocket does not forget a face!" Then he was gone, running of into the distance after his men. Ross smiled.

"Mission accomplished." He muttered to himself. His pokémon returned to his side, one of them glowing brightly. Ledyba was going into evolution. He smiled. It was time they left and followed after Ruby, who was probably miles ahead by now. He led them away into the tall grass, disappearing out of sight and leaving Joe and his friends to finish up with the Rockets here. Ross reflect on what had just happened.

"It certainly has been an interesting day, hasn't it?" He told his pokémon, and his newly evolved ledian.


	13. Chapter 13: National Park

**Just a small heads up to all of you. This is going to be the last chapter I'm able to post before I head of to university. I do have a few other chapters already finished but after them it's going to be tougher to write for this story. I am going to continue with it, but bare in mind I also have a lot else on my plate, so I may not get a chapter out each Sunday. Still, keep reading the story and keep enjoying it.**

 **J Out.**

* * *

'National Park' The sign above the door read, written on a white wooden plank with a green outline in large red capital text. It certainly explained the location well to the arriving trainer. Joe looked at the sign, then in through the double doorway. The room inside was lit up brightly with side lamps and small hanging chandeliers. Through the doorway he could see a counter, maybe where he could heal his pokémon, and a smaller door beside it, with bright sunlight shining through it.

"Is this the place you were talking about?" Joe asked, looking back at his two human companions. Silver nodded.

"Yep. This is the place." He told them.

"I didn't know Johto had a national park?" Winter though, looking at the sign herself.

"It's a pretty famous location here." Silver explained, for the first time since they'd met him not talking in a demeaning way. "A lot of battle and capture competitions go on here. They even do shows some times. I wander if they're doing anything today."

"I wouldn't think it likely at this time." Joe told them. "It's late afternoon. Most shows would have finished by now."

"Cro." Ralph agreed. He seemed rather eager to get inside and look around. He had his eyes on the grass field through the doorway. Now that Joe noticed it there was a strong scent of pollen coming from inside. It was rather nice at first, but after a long exposure to it began to rot his nose.

"Well come on then." Joe coughed slightly as he spoke up. "Let's get inside." He stepped inside. The sudden change in light quantity caused his eyes to both widen and wince at the same time. He was blinded for a few seconds, not because there was too much light, but because there wasn't enough. The sudden drop of internal darkness was more blinding then a blast of blaring light. Still, he kept his head up, opened his eyes and looked around. The room was a pastel green colour, clearly trying to relate to the purpose of the location, which was rather stomach turning to look at. On the walls were various images and paintings, mostly related in some was to nature, hanging by two hammered in pins in the wall. Joe looked at a few of them from the doorway. The closest was almost opposite to him, hanging above the counter. It was a photo someone had taken of a pidgey in mid-flight. Under it was a name tag, reading _'Mach Take-off by Jasper Kear.'_ Joe had to give credit to the photographer who'd taken the image. He'd done a good job composing the background and catching the pidgey just as it was taking off. It was much tougher to do then it seemed. Also the title was nicely put. Joe was going to use that description later. Winter and Silver followed him in and they too looked around.

"It certainly looks the part." Winter muttered. She clearly wasn't impressed by the wall colours. However she did seem impressed by the imagery hanging from the walls.

"I disagree." Silver said, smiling as he looked around. They looked at him, a bit worried about his mentality. He was being too… nice! The man at the counter at the other end of the room noticed them arrive and smiled patiently, waiting for them to crawl slowly over to him and, most likely, pay to participate in one of the events. In fact that was what happened. Joe caught sight of a sign reading all the local events that took place at the national park. He read through them each in turn. 'Battles, Competitions, Catching contests, Live music shows, Arts displays, Live plays, Lunch meetings, Birthday parties, etc. The list went on for a while.

"Catching competitions." Joe repeated. "That seems rather interesting."

"You want to take part in one?" Winter asked. Joe smiled at her.

"Why not." He turned and walked up to the counter. The man behind it smiled and bowed a hello.

"Good afternoon, sir." He said, kindly with an uplifting smile. "How can I help you today?" Joe smiled back.

"Hi." He said, more casually and less professionally. "Could you tell me a bit about the catching competitions?" He asked. The counter man nodded with a smile.

"Of course, sir." He said. Then he began to explain. "We get all kinds of trainer coming here to participate in battles or catching competitions. The main one we participate in here is the Bug Catching Competition, as most of the pokémon that live in the park are bug types. Basically we start a clock and leave it going for an hour. All trainers taking part have till then to catch the rarest bug pokémon they can find. Whoever catches the rarest gets a very special prize, as well as that, they get to keep the pokémon they caught. All participants also get to do the same, except they don't get the special prize. The judging is based on how rare the pokémon is, and if two trainers catch the same species, which actually happens quite often, then it's judged by the strength and experience of that pokémon to decide who won out of them. Most pokémon you'll find will be common bug types but we tend to let a few rarer ones out during the competitions, but there's still the chance of running into one outside of the competition. It's pretty low, though, so I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Sound's great." Joe said. "Is there one on today?" The counter man looked at his computer, scrolling the mouse down a little as he looked for the information. A few seconds later he turned back to Joe with a disappointed expression.

"I'm sorry, sir. The last catching competition ended fifteen minutes ago. You're too late I'm afraid." Joe sighed, sadly.

"Alright." He said. "So what is on today?" He asked.

"Nothing, I'm afraid." The counter man told him. "The bug catching competition was the last event for today, and there won't be another till next Tuesday."

"What about tomorrow?" Joe asked.

"Nothing on then either." The counter man told him. "We don't do events on Sunday." Joe scowled a little. He had been looking forward to participating in one of the trainer events. As it turned out they'd arrived on the one day. He began to wish that Sunday was not the Lord's Day and that these kinds of places were still open for then. "The park is still open, however." The counter man told him. "It's open all day every day and it's free to enter. You can just go through the door and spend some time there. We do allow battles and pokémon catching but we ask that trainers keep it to a minimum of one battle near the fountain at a time. You won't believe the amount of mess people make sometimes." Joe nodded, taking in the information.

"Thank you." He said. Then he turned away.

"Have a good day, sir." The counter man called after him. Joe didn't respond back. He fell a little disappointed. He'd been looking forwards to spending a bit of time of relaxing. He felt like he needed it. He had just defeated his third gym leader, and it hadn't been easy. Whitney had been a tank. And, on top of that, one of his pokémon had just evolved. Mar had changed during their walk up Route 35, from a small round and bouncing marill into a taller, thinner and much happier and jollier azumarill. Mar certainly seemed impressed by himself. Joe hadn't even seen the transformation take place. One minute he'd been a rolling marill attacking a group of koffings, the next he was a bubble blowing azumarill, holding back a Rocket Commander's raticate. Thinking back to it, Joe hadn't even caught the commander's title. All he'd noticed was the short purple hair on his forehead and the slimy thick British accent he'd had when calling threats. Whatever reason he had for being there, Joe had stopped it, and Mar had been a big helping hand in that. Actually, come to think of it, he had no idea why Team Ace had been there. He shook his head. That didn't matter. He was here to relax, not think about Team Rocket or Team Ace. Here they weren't important.

He walked up to Winter and Silver who were standing around, partially waiting, partially looking around.

"So what did he say?" Ruby asked. Joe looked at her, his disappointment showing.

"He said there's no more event today." Joe told them. "And they don't do anything on Sundays, so tomorrow's off, too."

"Knew they wouldn't be doing anything." Silver muttered. "They never do anything after four thirty PM." Joe looked at him.

"Yeah, thank you, Silver." He muttered. Silver ignored him.

"What about the park itself." Silver asked.

"That's open all day." Joe told him. "He said that we're still allowed to catch any pokémon we come across, but we won't have the chance of winning a prize like we could in the competition."

"That sounds good enough to me." Winter told him. "It doesn't really matter anyway. We can just spend the rest of the day relaxing in the park, then head of for Ecruteak City tomorrow morning." The group nodded in agreement to the plan.

"What are we standing around for then?" Silver asked bluntly, stepping away and walking over to the doorway beside the counter. "I can hear the tall grass calling me." He clapped his hands together. "Let's get catching!" Then he ran out through the doorway. Joe and Winter looked at where he had been. Then they turned to each other.

"Did he listen to anything I just said?" Joe asked. Winter shook her head. "Didn't think so."

"He has a good point." Winter told her closest friend, walking towards the door herself. She turned in mid walk, stepping backwards towards the doorway. "It is calling." She smiled at Joe. He smiled back. Then the two of them, and Ralph, walked out into the sun again.

* * *

The first thing that hit them as the bright beaming sunlight, which blasted through the doorway with all the unrelenting force and immovability of a police raid. The golden rays from heaven enlightened Joe's eyes, causing him to cover them with his arm as he walked back outside through doorway and into the park's courtyard area, Winter and Ralph following with him and reacting the same way. The second thing to hit them was the wind, which blustered through the parks grass and made it rustle and whistle as if it was a living thing. The gust brushed through their hair and clothes, causing them to move and sway. Joe had to grab hold of his hat as he felt it being pulled of his head by the eager air. He could hear Winter trying to hold her own hair still as it fluttered about in the strong wind. Ralph, surprisingly enough, hardly seemed bothered by any of it. In fact he seemed to enjoying the tough wind. Joe lowered his arm as his eyes adjusted to the glaring sun. The third thing to hit him was the view of the park itself. The area he was standing in at the moment was a simple stone floored courtyard that stretched out for at least twenty metres wide and three times that length out, with several wooden benches around it. And past that area was a pathway, leading up to a humungous circular field of grass. Around that field was a stone path and a wooden post and metal bar fence acting as its circumference. The grass area seemed to be split in two by a straight stone pathway through the centre. The south side was short grass, ideal for picnicking or resting r battling, which some people were doing a mixture of at that point, while also having some slightly tall grass where pokémon could be seen popping up every now and then, then scurrying of out of fear from someone getting to close or to look for food. The north grass was very tall indeed, nearly standing at the full height of some of the adults there. It looked wilder and more unkempt, and fewer people were in it. A couple of trainers, specifically bug catchers, could be seen creeping or running through it, sometimes behind a pokémon of some kind. And at the centre of the whole area was a large clean stone fountain, with multiple water sculptures in the centre of it. Through the mouths of stone goldeen and magikarp, and even a gyarados, water drizzled in a light constant splash into the shallow water in the basin of the fountain. Some people had had the interesting idea of throwing coins into the basin, believing it would grant some kind of wish for them. Joe was in mild awe. The place was beautiful and magnificent. He turned to Winter, who was also quite taken aback by its natural splendour.

"I can see why this place is a regional treasure." Joe muttered. He saw Silver a few metres ahead, heading for the long grass area already. He was looking back at them, waving a hand and pulling off a rather offensive symbol with it.

"Come on, you slowpokes!" He shouted and ran off again.

"Hey, that's offensive to slowpokes!" Winter shouted after him in a joking manor. "I want you to apologise." Silver was already gone by the time she finished shouting at him. She shook her head. "Lunatic." She looked at Joe. "What do you want to do?" She asked him. He snapped out of his trail of thought for a second and looked at her.

"I dunno." He told her. "I was going to have a battle, but it looks like the area's already being used."

"We could still have a bit of a fight if you want." She told him. Joe shrugged and shook his head, looking out at the park.

"It's okay." He told her. "I'm not really in the mood to battle that much anyway." They stood in silence for a while.

"We could just sit on the grass for a bit." Winter suggested finally. There was another, slightly shorter, silence.

"Yeah, okay." Joe agreed finally.

* * *

Silver jumped, whole body first, into the grass, landing on his chest and scrambling to his feet, crouching into a sneaking position, ready to catch any cool bug pokémon he came across. He sat there for a few seconds, listening out for movement. Then, when he was certain nothing was nearby, he reached for one of the pokeballs attached to his belt and released it onto the grass. He instantly had to shush Totodile as he appeared from within.

"Alright, Toto." He whispered, holding a finger to his lip. Totodile copied him, giggling as he did so. "Be very, very quiet." Silver whispered. "We're hunting bug pokémon!" Totodile hopped about from foot to foot, yapping excitedly. "I said quiet!" Silver snapped. Totodile fell quiet, holding his arms behind his back and looking bashful. Silver smiled. "Good." He said. Then he reached into his bag and grabbed an empty pokeball. "Okay." He said, looking determinedly into the long grass ahead. "Let's get hunting!"

He crept through the tall grass, keeping his head low and his back down, looking out for any sign of nearby pokémon. Occasionally he had to brush some loose tall grass out of his head as he pressed through the towering dark green reeds. Totodile followed closely beside him, trying to cut down some of the tall grass that got in his way. Unfortunately for him his teeth went sharp enough and his jaw wasn't strong enough to cut any of the stalks down. Instead he was forced to crawl under or over the fallen ones, leaving him in a couple of uncomfortable positions. They snuck around in the tall grass for a few minutes, until, finally, they saw something moving up ahead. Silver stopped, eyes forward, one hand gripping his empty pokeball, the other around Totodile's jaw. The small blue crocodile was complaining about it, a lot. Silver waited there patiently, waiting for it to pass close enough by to see what it was. He sat there for half a minute as the grass moved, the thing he'd found getting slowly closer, unaware of the waiting human and his pet. And then it appeared, fluttering clear wing the first thing visible. After that came round dark blue head with two large red eyes. The head was placed on the top of a fat but short body with six thin legs. The wings on its sides made up most of its body. Silver look disappointed.

"Oh." He muttered. "It's just a Butterfree. How not incredible is that." He shrugged as the butterfree looked at him. "Still, may as well catch it." He muttered, a small cheeky smile growing on his face. He prepared to throw the pokeball. The butterfree fled. "After it!" He shouted, jumping to his feet and rushing after the escaping butterfly pokémon. Totodile followed after him, struggling to push through the grass. Silver ran after the pokémon, trying to catch up, but the bug was too fast for him. Every step he took only made half the distance every flap of its wings took. Soon it was far ahead and way out of his throwing reach. Still Silver tried anyway. He hurled the pokeball forwards, in a desperate attempt to catch the escaping pokémon. But, unfortunately, it only just missed, nearly scraping Butterfree's abdomen as it flew downwards and landed with a splat in the mud that the tall grass grew out of. Silver ran past it and scooped it up again, rubbing the mud of the ball and continuing his chase of the pokémon.

Totodile followed after him, falling behind quite a bit, unable to push so quickly past the towering grass reeds. He found himself losing sight of Silver as he ran ahead without him. He huffed and pushed, trying to catch up, but, sure enough, he soon lost sight of his master. Totodile stopped, breathing heavy with exhaustion. He wasn't lost exactly. He could still follow silver's footsteps, and he had a sent to follow him by if the footsteps went cold. Totodile stretched his back, feeling out of breath after a rather long run for him. He wasn't built for pushing through tall grass. He prepared to start following Silver again, when he suddenly heard a voice nearby. A female voice. A female voice he recognise. He looked to the right. Somebody was nearby, not close enough to see yet but certainly close enough to hear. Slowly, cautiously, he crept forwards, peering through the grass stalks as he got closer and closer to the source of the voice. Then he stumbled into a small open area of crushed tall grass. And in that small area was an azumarill, looking bluntly back at him. Totodile tilted his head. Azumarill did the same. Then it jumped on him.

Silver finally gave up the chase. The butterfree was way too far ahead to catch now. It was basically useable.

"Goddamn insect!" He shouted kicking a small cluster of tall grass and causing the blades to whisper and shake. He yelled aloud in frustration, kicking the mud and spraying his trousers with the muck he was standing in. He placed the unused pokeball back in his bag, feeling annoyed. Then he heard something loud and raspy voiced shout louder than him. It sounded nearby and it was in some kind of distress.

"Dile!" It exclaimed. Silver thought for a second.

"Dile?" He repeated. Then he realised something. Totodile wasn't with him. He must have gotten lost at some point during the chase. He put two and two together in an instant. "Totodile!" He shouted, suddenly realising who it was crying out. He ran towards the shouts, shoving his way through the tall grass, desperate to reach his pokémon before it got into any kind of trouble.

* * *

Joe collapsed onto the grass, lying on his back atop the short cut blades of green, looking up at the darkening blue sky. The sun was already falling again, the shadows getting longer as it collapsed down the horizon. Winter lay down next to him, sighing deeply and closing her eyes, resting her arms behind her head and crossing her legs. The two of they lay next to each other, faces towards outer space, staying silent and letting the whole atmosphere of the park soak in. Ralph perched himself next to Joe, looking bored and feeling rather tired. He had no respect for silence or atmosphere. In fact it was tough to tell if he even knew what they were. He constantly shuffled his wings in a fidgeting ruffle and chewed his lip out of monotony. Joe decided not to pay him attention. He was just looking for attention. Winter hardly seemed bothered by it, either. She was smiling now, a small chuckle coming from under her sealed lips.

"Finally we get a rest." She muttered, opening her eyes again and looking up at the heavens. Joe nodded In agreement.

"I know." He said, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion. Winter shrugged her shoulders.

"I think this is the first time we've been able to just sit down since we got here." She continued.

"We're lying down." Joe reminded her. She laughed.

"You get what I mean, though." She told him. "In between battling all the gym leaders and taking down Team Rocket, we've hardly had a rest. I think we deserve this."

"Don't say things like that." Joe said, turning his head to look at her. "You'll curse us." They laughed a little. Ralph, who was now sitting in the corner, still playing with his wings, rolled his eyes like the wheels of a watermill. He had made it clear, many times, that he didn't like crappy small talk. Sadly that seemed to be the only way human friends communicated with each other from what he could tell. Joe and Winter lay in silence for a bit. Then Joe spoke up again. "Why do we keep doing this?" He wondered.

"Doing what?" Winter asked, rolling her head over to look at him. She looked quite confused by what he was talking about. Joe shrugged. He didn't seem to understand his own comment.

"I don't know." He told her, looking himself a little unsure. "I mean, why are _we_ doing all this. Why are _we_ trying to stop Team Rocket, when other, more skilled and experienced in the area then us, could do it instead, and much better than us." He punched has hand lightly with his right fist, thinking heavily. "I forget why we even do this. What's the point? They'll just stop us like they did in Kanto, so why bother." Winter didn't know what to tell him. Joe was her best friend. He was the first person in years to come along and give her something to care about. She didn't want to hurt the feelings of a friend, even if it meant keeping them safe. But maybe sometimes it was best to be honest with them.

"We didn't have to do anything." She told him. "We weren't asked to do this. We weren't chosen. We just did it. We stood up to them when no one else was doing so." Joe looked at her. "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Remember what happened in the pokémon centre. We could have chosen not to act. We could have just stayed there in the closet, waiting for the police to turn up and get us out, while the rockets got away with all those pokémon. But we didn't. You didn't want to. That's what makes us different from everyone else."

"Are you suggesting it would have been better if we hadn't acted that day?" Joe asked, not to sure what Winter's point was.

"No." She said, sounding a little annoyed by his misunderstanding. "No, of course I'm not." She sat up.

"Then what are you trying to say?" Joe asked, moving into a sitting position. Winter hugged her knees and looked down at the grass floor.

* * *

Silver burst through the tall grass, holding his bag tight onto his back with his left hand and his right hand balled into a fist, his glowing blue and silver ring on his index finger, ready to punch out the lights of whoever it was harming his pokémon. But when he arrived at the scene he found himself surprised. Totodile was completely fine, in fact he was better than fine. He was hanging by the snapping jaw from the small fat arm of a large blue azumarill, which, in turn, was trying to pull him of, headbutting him repeatedly on the side of the forehead. The bitten area of its arm looked like it was getting sore. Silver looked at the scene. Then he noticed another person standing on the other side of the water pokémon head combat battle.

"No, Azi! Stop it! Put that poor lizard down!" Silver looked up and gasped. His pupils diluted with joy. It was her. The girl he had run into during the fight at the Day Care. The girl in the team rocket uniform. What had her name been? He had the piece of paper in his pocket, but he was too nervous to look at it. The girl looked up and noticed him finally. "Oh." She gasped, taken by surprise. "Y-you." She gasped quietly. "Silver." Silver's fist loosened. The ring on his index finger glowed brighter like a new-born star.

"H-hi." He mumbled, losing his nerve and coolness a little. He was already feeling like a bumbling idiot. The girl smiled at him.

"Don't you recognise me?" She asked. Then she chuckled again. "Oh. I forgot you hadn't seen me outside my uniform before. It's me, Crystal." She smiled at him.

At first Silver had nearly mistaken her for someone else. She definitely wasn't wearing her black rocket jumpsuit or black boots and gloves, or even the black hat. Instead she was wearing a large white puffed up hat with a red outline above the cap, a set of short legged blue dungarees and a red long sleeved shirt underneath with white collar, tall white socks and large red shoes. As well as this she was carrying a small one strap satchel bag over her right shoulder, with several small badges pinned on the side. They weren't gym badges, much to Silver's disappointment. Her hair was kept in the same two long ponytails at the sides, the rest of the long hair hidden beneath her hat. The one thing that had told Silver it was her was her eyes. They were the same deep navy blue eyes that glistened like sapphires in the darkness of a mine. They were like windows in Valhalla, a symbol of perfection, a light to shine in all darkness. He quickly realised that he had been staring at her all this time, and he blushed slightly. Crystal was also blushing. She held her bag in front of her chest by its strap, looking a little nervous.

"O-o-of course I recognise you." Silver said, a little too loudly, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment. "You were the girl I nearly broke the arm of." The comment hadn't gone down well. Crystal seemed to look a little fallen hearted. Silver coughed. "I-I didn't mean to… to try and hurt you." He apologise. "If… If I… I didn't know who you were at the time." He tried to say.

"And do you know me now?" Crystal asked, looking at him with big eyes. Silver blushed brighter.

"I'd like to." He said quietly, sounding a little too unsure to seem confident. Meanwhile Totodile and Azumarill had stopped fighting and were instead looking back and forth between their trainers. They were unsure why they weren't fighting and instead were bust trading words instead. It didn't seem right to either of them. But there they were, standing only a few feet apart, blushing both and chuckling, embarrassment and awkwardness flowing of them both.

"We didn't get off on the right foot last time, did we?" Crystal reminded him.

"No. Not really" Silver agreed. Crystal nodded. She held out her hand.

"My name's Crystal Peterson. I was born in New Bark town and I grew up with my mother, father and sister. My azumarill friend here is called Azi. He's been my pet and partner for three years." She smiled at Silver. "Now you tell me about yourself." She told him. Silver looked at her hand. Then he took it.

"M-my name's S-silver." He muttered. "I was born far away from here, I grew up alone and my companion, Totodile, doesn't have a nickname and has only been with me for a week or so." Then he stopped. Crystal looked at him, a small smile on her lips.

"Is that it?" She asked, not actually believing he was telling the whole truth. Silver nodded.

"Yes." He lied. Crystal tilted her head, her smile growing to a playful grin.

"Come on." She muttered, nudging his shoulder with her own. "There's got to be more. Like what's your surname? You can't just be called Silver, that's not even a real name."

"It is where I come from." Silver told her stubbornly.

"And where do you come from?" Crystal persisted. "You said you grew up alone. Was there no one else there? Did you live in the wilds? How did you come to be in human society now? Surely someone must have been there for you at some point."

"Look, can you just drop it?" Silver snapped suddenly, glaring at her with pestered annoyance. "I don't want to talk about it, okay!" Crystal backed up a little.

"I'm sorry." She apologised, feeling a little bad for him, though she didn't know why. "I didn't mean to make you angry." Silver took a deep breath.

"I didn't mean to shout." He apologised. "It's just… I don't like talking about my past, alright? So please don't ask me about it."

"I won't." Crystal told him. They stood in silence for a while, unsure how to keep this conversation going anymore. After that snap it all felt sour. Finally Silver managed to relight the spark of their conversation.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked her. "I thought you were with Team Rocket."

"I still am." Crystal explained. "I've managed to get away for today. Thankfully I wasn't needed on any tasks. It can be really tiring."

"What were you doing attacking the day care the other day?" Silver asked. Crystal shrugged, looking of into the distance.

"To be honest, I don't really know." She admitted. "We were just told to go and grab as many pokémon resident there as we could find. I think the big boss told the commander something else, but that's why I was there. I didn't like doing it, but we didn't actually get away with any of them."

"If you don't like doing this, why do you stay with them?" Silver asked.

"You asked me that last time." Crystal reminded him. "You think I get a choice. I'm only out here because I was able to slip out. I can't even stay for long. If they know I'm gone then… I dread to imagine what they might do." She bit her lower lip. Silver watched her expression of fear. If he hadn't realised that Team Rocket were bad people before, seeing one of their youngest grunts this nervous about them showed him it up front now.

"You don't have to go back." He told her.

"And where else would I go?" She asked.

"You said you have a family in New Bark Town. A mother, a father and a Sister? I was there a weak ago. I might have seen them. I could take you back there if you want." Crystal shrugged him off.

"I don't have a dad anymore!" She snapped suddenly. This time it was Silver who was stepping back, his arms up in moral defence. "My father passed away three years ago from leukaemia. My mom's a horrible bitch who does nothing but slob around with her fat ass boyfriend all day, and my sisters a little pest. Why would I want to go back to them? They're the reason I left in the first place!" She turned around, huffing and crossing her arms. She was steaming mad for some reason. Silver felt horrible now. He hadn't intended to provoke her like that. He'd just been trying to reason.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He muttered. "I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was just… I… I'm sorry." He couldn't find the right words to say to her. Crystal rubbed her face and turned around. She looked him in the eyes, trying to be more smiley again.

"No, I should be sorry." She told him. "I didn't mean to shout. It's just a sensitive area for me."

"Looks like we've both shouted at each other today." Silver chuckled, trying to make some kind of joke. "I always heard that light arguing was a good sign for a strong relationship." Neither of them found it funny, but they chuckled anyway.

"I don't think I'd go that far." Crystal muttered, blushing a little. "She patted him on the shoulder.

"Still, it got you to smile again. "Silver told her. Crystal nodded.

"It certainly did." She agreed. They were silent again for a while. Then Silver popped the question.

"So…" He said, speaking slowly, expecting to be shot down at any second, and maybe not just metaphorically. "I don't suppose, at some point… you might… be available to meet up with?" He tried. Crystal blushed slightly. She tilted her head.

"Moving a little quickly." She muttered, just audibly. "I don't think that would be a very good idea." She told him. Silver looked a little disappointed.

"Why not?" He asked, looking like a puppy that had been denied a biscuit. Crystal scratched her head, looking nervous, but not about the boy In front of her, asking to meet with her again. She was clearly thinking about something else. About the slicing knife of Team Rocket's wrath. She could hear it being brandished already.

"I… I really can't." She told him, looking conflicted between her situations. She was not left with an easy choice. She wanted to stay here, and get to know Silver more. But if she did that, and Team Rocket found her again, she would suffer drastically for her time away unwillingly. "I… I have to go." She said suddenly. She patted her knee, calling Ali over to her side and turned to go.

"Wait!" Silver called after her. He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her in her stacks.

"Hey." She protested weakly, turning again to look at him. Silver was almost kneeling on the ground now, his hand gripped tightly around her wrist, looking her straight in the eyes. Crystal couldn't fight him. She really wanted to stay. She didn't want to go back. She wanted to be here. With Silver. Silver kept his eyes on hers.

"I don't want you to go." He told her honestly, whole-heartedly, unabashedly. "Please. I'd… I'd like you to stay. Just for an hour, so I can spend some time with you, get to know you. I want to know you, Crystal. I really do. I don't care where you come from or what evil group you're part of. I…" He stopped. What was he doing? Why was he doing this? He knew deep down this was a bad idea, not just because she was Team Rocket. If that numb-nuts trainer, Joe, found out he had a… a crush… he'd never hear the end of it. He'd be mocked for having human emotions, and that was something Silver wasn't prepared to suffer. But he looked into Crystals eyes and he saw, for the first time in his relatively short life, happiness. His childhood hadn't been easy. He'd had no parents to guide him, no friends to look out for him, no siblings to assist him, not hope to enlighten him. But that was not important anymore. He looked at her and she smiled at him, blushing crimson like a wild fire. Silver found himself smiling back. Crystal took his hand. Silver stood up.

 _'_ _It'll never work.'_ Silver's subconscious told himself as he looked into Crystal's eyes. _'It never does.'_ She stepped closer to her.

 _'_ _Still.'_ His conscious said in response. _'At least for now, it's something to live for.'_ The two teenagers' face's met, but not, in any context, a violent way at all. It was slow and cautious, full of some strange for of passion that neither had seen nor experienced before. They closed their eyes and held hands.

Azi looked at Crystal, confused by what she was doing. To him it looked like she was trying to suck the other human's face, which was odd and disgusting. It was definitely not something he'd seen her do before. He'd seen her do something similar to her parents before, but that was usually on their cheek, not their whole mouth. Besides, there wasn't any sounds during that. He looked down to see Totodile a few feet away with his tongue hanging out, looking disgusted also, slicing a finger across his neck and shouting at his trainer in a garbled yap. But Silver didn't listen. For the first time in forever he had found hope for himself.

* * *

"Look, Joe. It feels kind of weird to say this aloud." Winter admitted, sitting on her knees like a praying Japanese student, her hands placed on her legs and holding her upper body up. She looked at the grass bellow her. "But, in respect, we don't have a reason to do all this. Everything we have done to stop Team Rocket was not set for us to do. We just happened to be there and we decided to try and help stop them. And in doing that we cursed ourselves with being stuck with the task."

"Winter, this isn't helping." Joe told her.

"Just let me explain." Winter told him quickly. "We had no reason to get involved with stopping Team Rocket. But we did. And, in many respects, we helped set up what they became. I don't wish to say that we're at fault because they were always a bad group through and through, but imagine what might have happened if we hadn't confronted them at any point during our Kanto travels. Who knows? Maybe they wouldn't have succeeded as quickly, or maybe they would have, and they'd already be unstoppable. Maybe someone else would have come along, maybe they wouldn't. There's a million ways this could have all gone, but, for whatever reason, it all went this way. We decided to act. You decided to put effort into stopping them and protecting others from their wrath. This lead to you losing one of your closest pokémon which in turn lead you into growing a hatred and setting on their destruction. This led you to their leader which in turn showed you what you were dealing with. This taught you how to confront the danger ahead, but in turn we didn't succeed. And now we are here, preparing to stop them again, with new friends and new pokémon."

"Where are you going here?" Joe asked, growing a little impatient.

"Shush!" Winter hissed, glancing at him. "Okay, you want the quick version? Here it is. You can complain all you like about why you're the one doing this all and not someone else, but in the end you can't change the past. There's only one history, the one that has happened. Maybe things could have been different, but that's not the problem or the point anymore. Because now is what's important. Now is where you decide the future. So stop asking yourself why and instead as yourself what. What can I do, not why did I do." She stopped, feeling a little fed up. She had hoped to get a rest and some time to spend with her friend. But, as usually, he'd started thinking about all that was going on. "Don't live by yesterday." She told him sternly, looking him in his blue eyes. "Live by tomorrow!" She looked at her friend. Through the glazed eyes of bored listening, Joe cracked a small smile.

"You know, for a fourteen year old teenage girl…" Joe muttered, a small chuckle in his voice. "You're pretty wise." Winter couldn't help it. She found herself smiling also.

"Shut up." She muttered. Joe nudged her with a shoulder.

"Seriously, that was some high levels of aged wizard there. Are you really a wizard in disguise, Winter?" He asked in a clear mocking voice. Winter shoved him.

"Shut up. You're being a doofus, now." He laughed, as did she. The two of them sat there laughing uncontrollably for a little while. Ralph put an imaginary gun to his head. Joe smiled at his best friend.

"Really, though." He said, speaking in a more honest tone. "Thank you. That did clear it up a bit for me. You're right, as usual." He tapped his finger on the ground. "I hate the fact that I don't think that stuff myself. I have to be told it by someone else. Ha. Says a lot about my intelligence levels, doesn't it." Winter looked at Joe's expression as it fell into a glum looking stare at the ground. With little brain thought in the process, she reached an arm around him and hugged him. Joe froze in surprise. He hadn't been expecting this at all. Winter had hardly even shook hands with him before. Now she was hugging him. It didn't feel right. But, for a reason he never figured out, he let her stay there, her arm over his shoulders. He felt her head tap the side of him.

"Who cares if you don't see that all straight away?" She told him. "Who cares if you're smart or wise or strong or handsome or cool or whatever. Your friends and pokémon certainly don't. They like you because you're you." She fell a little quieter. "I like you because you're you." She told him in a slow whisper. Joe looked at her. She was trying to tell him something, but he couldn't tell what. Whatever it was, it was slapping him in the face like a steel door slammed shut by a two hundred pound jack hammer swung by a giant made of pure diamond crystals. Blatantly obvious but surprisingly unnoticeable. Joe felt himself smile again. He and Winter hugged there for a while, watching as the pedestrians around them played and battled and raced and caught and practiced and splashed in the fountain and talked and talked and talked. The two were finally split up by an impatient Ralph, who shoved them apart with his wings. If there was one thing he hated most, it was moments of sentiment. He was not a sentimental creature. In fact, thinking about it, he hadn't cried at anything since… ever! Joe and Winter coughed awkwardly, looking away from each other.

"Sorry about him." Joe muttered, giving Ralph an annoyed glare. "He's, clearly, in a funny mood." Winter rolled a hand.

"Don't worry." She told him, kindly. "I was planning to get up anyway. I wanted to get a small walk around before my legs fell asleep ahead of my brain. I might see if I can find Silver maybe." Joe smiled at her.

"Go ahead." He told her. "I'll be sitting here, waiting for the two of you to come back." Winter smiled back at him as she stood up.

"Thank you." She whispered. "See you later." She turned and jogged towards the tall grass area, reaching for a pokeball. Joe smiled as he watched her head away. He lay back again, looking up at the arriving dark sky. Ralph's head slowly rose into view like a midnight prune. His yellow eyes looked into Joe's eyes, clearly giving him a critical comment. Joe looked back at him, stubbornly.

"Yes, what do you want?" Joe asked. Ralph smiled at him suddenly. "What?" Joe pressed. Ralph just kept smiling. "Oh shut up." Joe muttered, rolling onto his side and lying his head on his bag, looking at the fence. Ralph simply chuckled and ley down behind him, looking the opposite way. He was still smiling.

* * *

Winter practically lunged into the tall grass, landing on her knees, an open pokeball landing beside her. Staryu wandered in past her, having been released from its pokeball and allowed some open air to stretch its five legs. Winter stood back up again, wiping the mud of her knees.

"Let's get looking around." She muttered, Staryu standing by her side, looking on into the grass. Something ahead of them moved. Several tall reeds of grass fell away as something sliced them in half. Then, with no time between the arrival and the charge, a huge green mantis jumped out in front of her, slashing its long insect scythes through the air. Winter ducked, narrowly avoiding the cutting blades. If she hadn't moved in time she probably would have lost her head, if not at least cut her neck badly. She stepped back, avoiding another swing from its slashing claw. "Damn! A scyther!" She muttered, avoiding another slash at her gut. "Where the hell did it come from?" The scyther squared her down, red enraged eyes glaring at her. Winter glanced past her shoulder. "Staryu!" She called. Her closest companion pokémon waddled up beside her, rotating on its many starfish legs. "Take it out!" She commanded. Staryu started spinning on its back, then shot forwards in a sudden rapid spin attack, striking the wild Scyther in the stomach and knocking it over. "Good job!" Winter cheered. But the Scyther quickly got back up. It jumped to its feet, its small see-through wings flittering almost invisibly, and lashed out as Staryu came in for another attack. It jumped aside, avoiding the tackle and sped past the five pointed sea star, heading instead for its trainer. "Oomph!" Winter had no time to react. She merely tensed herself as the scyther rammed straight into her, picking her up with the full force of its charge and pushing her several metres away, still charging at full force. Staryu followed valiantly after her.

Silver and Crystal jumped as suddenly a five foot tall razor sharp clawed mantis came crashing into the clearing they were standing in, pushing another person, a ginger haired girl, with it. The large bug collapsed on top of her, holding itself up with a single scythe blade and using the other to push down on the girl. Winter bushed back against it, kicking its stomach with her legs and holding back its prodding arm blade. Totodile and Azi also jumped with the surprise intrusion. Winter lay on her back, trying to hold off the much stronger hunting insect. Then she noticed the two embarrassed looking teenagers behind her.

"Hey Silver!" He managed to grunt, still trying to push of the looming mantis. She punched it right in its large eyes and managed to make it flinch, but still it refused to move. "Staryu!" Winter cried, becoming a little desperate. "Get this damn bug off me!" Scyther felt something small, fat and squishy tap in on the shoulder. It looked back. A barely three foot tall starfish pokémon was standing behind it, looking up with its single centred red jewel. It flexed its top legs. Then in shot a huge torrent of water right into the bugs face. Scyther was flung backwards, the full force of the attack crippling it and leaving it exhausted on the ground a few feet away. Silver and Crystal moved aside just in time, avoiding being hit by the attack themselves. Now Winter was able to get back up. She rolled over and crouched onto her knees. "Nice one, Staryu." She said, complementing her companion. She looked and saw Scyther now trying to get away. It was using its scythe claws to pull itself across the ground, urgently trying to get away from this overestimated powerful trainer. "I don't think so, mister." Winter muttered, smiling to herself. She reached into her bag. "I think a greater ball will do for this one." She muttered. To herself. The blue coloured pokeball was hurled through the air, where it landed simply and softly in the mud that, a few seconds before, the scyther had been crawling through. Now it was gone, having been sucked into the small blue ball by the red light that had popped out when it snapped open. The ball rocket once, twice, thrice, then stopped, snapping permanently and unbreakably shut. Winter pumped a fist in the air. "Yeah! Alright! Who's the man!... Well, woman in my case I guess…. Still, alright!" Silver and Crystal watched, still looking rather surprised, as Winter cheered for herself, ran over to the now shut great ball and picked it up. "Now to think of a cool name for you." She muttered. It didn't take her long. "How about Cutter?" She asked. The ball didn't respond back. "Great, Cutter it is then." She reached down to place the new pokeball onto her belt, when she realised that all six spaces were already taken up. "Ah." She realised. "Already have a full team. I'll have to sort that out later, when I'm next by a PC." She began wiping the mud of her knees and front, when she noticed Silver again, and the girl standing next to him. "Oh." She muttered, actually taking account of them this time. She looked surprised to see them. They also looked rather surprised to see her. "What are you doing all the way out here? And who's this?" Winter looked at the new black haired, blue eyes girl standing next to Silver. Crystal backed up, looking suddenly incredibly nervous.

"I… I need to go!" She muttered, stepping away. She patted her knee and Azi came waddling up to her side. She picked him up in her arms, turned towards the tall grass and ran off.

"Crystal wait!" Silver cried after her. But it was too late. She was already gone.

"Was she a friend of yours?" Winter asked, confused. Feeling incredibly downhearted and abandoned, he turned to face Winter. He felt both angry at her, and yet somehow incredibly sad, as if someone had torn his heart out with a billhook.

"What's it to you?" He asked, sounding grouchy. Winter backed off a little.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you like that." She apologise. Silver sighed and waved a hand.

"Forget it." He muttered, walking away, looking depressed. "Just forget I was ever here. And please forget you ever saw her.

"Okay?" Winter watched as the redheaded boy, who up to this point had been a constant nuisance to her and Joe, walked away, looking and sounding surprisingly depressed, Totodile following at his side, yapping still, trying to cheer him up. Winter found herself thinking. Who had that girl been? Why had she run away when Winter saw her? Why had Silver gotten angry about it? Why had they both looked embarrassed? Why had they been holding hands? She thought these questions over in her head till suddenly they snapped together like magnetic puzzle pieces. Was she silver's…? "No!" Winter gasped, the idea too amazing for her to truly believe. It sounded impossible, but it seemed to be true. She smiled a little. "Now isn't that ironic." She muttered, a huge gleaming smile on her face. "I'll have to tell this one to Joe and Ralph." And tell them is exactly what she did.

* * *

The day finally came to an end, and the group of trainers met back up at the entrance to the National Park. They were tired from the long day, and had decided that trying to make the trip to the next town or back would be too tiring. So they agreed to take up lodgings at the National Park. It turned out that there was a small pokémon centre in the main building, a PC and even a bedroom for passing trainers to take up shelter in. They didn't waste any time arguing. All three of them headed straight in. Winter took a few minutes to sort out here team at the PC. She had a small argument over who to put on here team and who not to. In the end she decided to switch out Stream for a bit, replacing him with her new scyther, Cutter. As for Tailless and Eevee, she added them to her team too, keeping Eevee as a non-battling companion for now. So the small evolution pokémon got to walk around with her for a bit till she could decide what to name him and what to evolve him into. Finally the day was over, and the three trainers relaxed into their own separate single beds in their own room. Ralph, as usually, took up the left side wall, hanging from the ceiling like a purple skin covered stalactite. Joe lay on his bed, unable to sleep. He rolled over to see that Silver, who was lying in the bed to the left of him, could also not sleep.

"Hey, Silver." He asked.

"What?" Silver asked.

"Winter said that she saw you with a girl earlier." Joe began. Immediately he heard Silver groan with annoyance.

"It was nothing." He told him, quietly but also sharply.

I was just wondering." Joe asked, innocently. "Was she a friend of yours?

"Drop it!" Silver warned him.

"It's just Winter said she'd thought she'd seen her before." Joe continued.

"I said drop it!" Silver instructed, nearly shouting at his 'friend' on the bed next to him.

"Alright, okay." Joe muttered, slamming his head back onto his pillow.

"Why do you even care?" Silver muttered, trying to close his eyes again.

"It's just that she said you looked a little sad." Joe continued. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." Silver didn't respond. He looked up at the roof above him and thought back to barely an hour ago. He thought about Crystal, about her eyes, about her smile. He couldn't help it. The image of her swam through his mind like a sea snake through the waves of the ocean. It cut through his mind, opening it up and allowing it to fester and bleed. He remembered the one moment of intimacy. The one kiss that was broken by the interruption of an overly aggressive scyther. He sighed with annoyance.

"I'm fine." He said finally.

* * *

Crystal was feeling higher then she'd ever felt before. She felt like she could jump up and grab hold of the moon. It was all a rush of colours and emotions. She had never felt so happy around someone before, not like this at least. The memory of their meeting still stuck in her mind like a fresh sketch of ink drying onto a stone tablet. The only problem had been how short their time together had been. Again she had run of like the coward she was the second someone else had shown their face up. She hadn't even waited a second to meet the girl who apparently knew Silver. For all she knew she could have been his sister, or his best friend, but Crystal, in her panicky state, assumed 'cop' of the newcomer. She'd instantly turned tail and ran, not looking back as he'd called after her. She was wandering how he was feeling about it. He didn't look like the kind of guy who was confident in himself very much. She only hoped he wasn't feeling too bad. She wanted to try and run into him again at some point. She'd like that, and she assumed he'd like that, too. He clearly was happy to see her again, and she'd felt the same way, though maybe she didn't show it as much as she could have.

"I wander if he's available on Thursday?" She wandered inside her female mind, her brain running only posters and midnight runnings of a short film called Silver.

As she skipped slowly back into the Rocket Base she quickly became aware that there was no one around. Everything was silent. There wasn't even any background sound. All machinery had been turned off. That wasn't normal. Usually there was some kind of activity going on, even if it was just the hum of the electricity going through the building or the revving of a vehicle waiting to go. Apart from her own, there wasn't even the sound of footsteps. She'd been smart enough to withdraw Azi before returning. If she did end up in trouble, she didn't want him to suffer, too. She was beginning to feel a little suspicious. Something wasn't right. She knew she was a little late. She knew she wasn't supposed to leave the base that day, but she'd been lucky to get away when she did. However she'd been smart enough to know to return. Only Arceus knows what they might do to her if she did show up and later. But the current atmosphere of the place was wrong. She knew she'd entered the right building. Nowhere looked like the Team Rocket Base looked. Still, even though she told herself it was all okay, she still couldn't shrug of the feeling that she was…

"'Ello, 'ello, missy!" A gruff and fat voice called out from one of the recently shut doors. Crystal jumped a little at the sound. She heard the door swinging open behind her and she turned. Baxter was standing in the doorway, a lit cigar in his mouth like a cartoon villain. Crystal calmed down a little.

"What do you want, Baxter?" She asked. Baxter pulled the cigar from his mouth and inspected it casually.

"Yer late comin' back from yer li'l trip, ain't ya?" He asked, almost as nonchalantly as his removal of the cigar, and Crystal might have believed he was curious if she hadn't known him well, or she hadn't seen his gleaming yellow smile through the shadow of the doorway. Crystal felt a small spark of panic ignite inside her.

"And what's that to you?" She asked, trying to seem more confident then she looked. Baxter was a slimy man, but hopefully he wasn't a stuck-up. Hopefully he hadn't let the boss know she was gone. Baxter was about to tell her exactly what he had chosen to do.

"I's nothin' ta me, don't worry 'bout dat." He sucked the cigar again. "However, the Boss want's ta see yer about it." Crystal felt her nerves shatter.

"The boss?" She repeated, trying to not stutter with fear at the idea to going and seeing the man Team Rocket knew as their leader. "W-why does he want to see me?" Baxter stepped out of the doorway towards the teenage girl.

"He wants ta know where you went at a time like dis." Baxter asked, looming over her like an ugly panda that had been dragged through a street gutter before being dried out on a clothes line in a storm. "He has a few ideas where, and he wants to make sure they're not the truth.

"I haven't been anywhere." Crystal told him, trying to also sound honest. "I had some free time so I went for a short walk.

"A short walk that took four hours." Baxter added, grumbling in his ugly pointy nose nasal voice. He nodded to someone in front of him, standing a few feet taller than him. Crystal had no time to react before she was grappled by a pair of strong, long and surprisingly thin arms. She struggled and squirmed, trying to break free, but Gilbert held her still, giving Baxter the opportunity to mess with the young girl. "Now, this don't 'ave ta end badly for ya. So how about ya tell me where yous was and I let the boss know it wasn't anything serious. How 'bout it. You spill yer guts and I let ya go without, eheh." He gave a squirming smile of glee. "Punishment." Crystal tried to free her arms, but Gilbert's grip was impossibly tight.

"I haven't been anywhere!" She insisted. "I didn't see anyone. I didn't speak to anyone. I didn't tell the cops about Team Rocket. I didn't give away the base location. I didn't do anything, I swear." Gilbert chuckled dumbly.

"She's lyin', Bax." He snorted.

"I know that, Gilb." Baxter snorted back. He stepped closer to Crystal and took her right arm, which was just visible through Gilbert's grip, pulling it towards him and holding it tight by the wrist. "Now you have two choices here." Baxter warned Crystal, looking her grimly in the eyes. "You can either tell me da exact truth of wheres you were, right 'ere, right now, or yous can keep lyin' and I'll take ya to see he boss." He grinned again. "I'm sure he'd be 'appy ta see you again. What d'ya say? You wanna co-opperates now?" Crystal kicked him in the knee. Baxter buckled under the force she had applied to his leg joint, collapsing to the floor and wincing in pain. Crystal smiled maliciously.

"Not by the hair of your flabby hanging chin." She insulted sharply Gilbert laughed stupidly.

"Dat was a good one. She really got ya, Bax." Baxter stood up, wincing and rubbing his knee. He took the cigar from his mouth.

Gilbert, hold her still." He instructed. Crystal felt herself being yanked back into a straight standing position. Baxter stepped back up to her and grabbed her right hand, yanking it forwards again and holding it out in a tight grip.

"Let go!" Crystal complained as Baxter pulled at her arm, trying to move it as far away from her still kicking legs as he could. He took the cigar in his other hand, holding it close to his mouth.

"Kick me in the shin will ya?" He muttered, the smoke of the cigar blowing from his mouth like the musky smoke from a motorcar's exhaust. "I'll show you." He gripped the cigar between his thumb and fore fingers. Then, with a sudden swift movement, he brought it down, lit end first. Crystal's scream echoed around the entire building like the distressed cry of an injured wolf pup. The whole twenty kilometre area heard her pain fueled shriek as she felt her skin burn away. Baxter lifted the cigar again. "Let her go." He instructed finally. Gilbert dropped the girl. Crystal stumbled a few steps forward, holding her right hand, striking tears running down her eyes. She could feel the throbbing of her own heartbeat in the charred circle of muscle that had been revealed in her hand. Baxter walked towards her and grabbed her chin, forcing her head upwards and looking her in the tear stained eyes. "Now yous comin' wit' me ta see the boss, and if you try ta escape then I'm gonna brand yer other hand too. Understand?" He said coldly, with no form of human remorse or emotion showing anywhere in him. Crystal wept quietly, clenching her wrist. Right now she wanted to be anywhere but there. Baxter grunted. "Get her movin'!" He grumbled. Gilbert prodded the distraught and traumatized girl with one of his long arms.

"Let's get goin', miss." Crystal didn't say anything. She simply walked with Baxter and Gilbert towards the leader's office again. As she stepped through the doorway, her right arm clenched emotionally by the left, tears still rolling down her face, she wandered what on earth he could do to her that would be any worse. The door slammed closed behind her.

Shortly after this there was the sound of screaming from a person in serious pain coming from within as they had the living daylight beaten out of them.

Danning came running as soon as he heard the scream. He had recognised the voice crying. It had been Crystal. She was in trouble. He rushed down the corridors till finally he found himself in the vehicle lobby. He looked around and saw the trail of ash from Baxter's cigar laying draped across the floor like a clairvoyant pathway. He followed it to the boss's office. And when he got there he saw the most horrific thing he had ever witnessed happen to someone so young. Crystal was walking out the doorway, her eyes and cheeks stained by tears and her throat soar from screaming and crying in pain. But that wasn't anything close to the worst of what had happened to her. Her left eye was completely black and swollen, having been punched more than once by someone with a solid fist. Blood was trickling down her nose, which was also swollen but thankfully not looking broken. She was limping, holding her stomach with one of her hands. She had been punched in the gut several times, leaving her in a slow walk and a gasping state. But the worst part was her right hand. She was trying to hide it in her clothes, but it was clear the damage that had been done to it. On the back of her hand was a huge bleeding burn mark where someone had stubbed a lit cigar into it. The skin was burned away, revealing the weak and sensitive muscle underneath. Danning looked at what had become of the girl, and he wished, futilely, that it had been done to someone else instead.

"Oh my god!" He gasped quietly, seeing the beaten and disheveled girl stumbling towards him. "Crystal! What did they do to you?" Crystal's eyes glanced to him for a second. Danning looked into them and saw no more the upbeat kindness that she had shown him, nor the resentment for the people she was working for, nor the care had she given to the pokémon around her, nor any childish innocence he had seen in her before. Now all he saw was anger and depression and sadness and depression and hate, so much hate behind such blue eyes. Crystal's lips moved weakly.

"D…da…da-a…" Danning stepped forwards and reached out just as she collapsed forwards, nearly hitting her head on the ground.

"It's okay." Danning muttered as he held the broken girl in his older arms. "You're okay. I'll get you help."

"D…da…" Crystal muttered. A huge tear leaked out from her swollen eye. "Dad." She managed to say finally. Danning looked frozen. He felt his own heart break a little.

"Don't you worry?" He muttered. "I'll get you help. You're going to be… Okay." He grunted as he lifted the now falling unconscious girl up into his arms and carried her away, taking her to the closest doctor he could find. "I won't let them hurt you again." Danning muttered. "I promise."

The saddest thing about a fresh memory is that it can be easily tainted by one bad event. And, if that event happens soon after the memory becomes fresh in the mind, it can become a form of torture and misery for the unlucky victim to suffer it. Crystal's memory knitted itself a scar and a revenge plan as it then proceeded to shut down as she finally lost full consciousness.


	14. Chapter 14: Pseudo Tree

Joe looked at the PC screen with his uncle's face on it. The image was a little blurry out here in the field, but he could at least hear what was being said by his only family member.

"I see." His uncle was saying, looking at the small ball of spikes and egg shell in Joe's arms. "He certainly is a cute one." Casey burped and giggled as he lay in Joe's arms, looking up at the strange man in on the screen. "So this is why you haven't been calling me recently."

"Actually I haven't been calling because I've been so busy I forgot too." Joe admitted, petting his little baby togepi on the spiked head as he talked. It had been several days since he'd last called his uncle, and that had been before he'd beaten Falkner and gotten his first badge. He'd already come quite far since then. It was weird to consider that nearly a week ago he'd been in Kanto preparing to leave for Johto, and now he was three badges in. Casey began munching on a Cheri berry. He was old enough now to eat the squishy, less tough foods, like some berries, milk and other things like eggs, though Joe imagined that for Casey that would be cannibalism and had decide to keep him of those. They wouldn't do his stomach much good either. The last thing Joe needed keeping him up was the noxious gasses of a young baby pokémon. Walker Glende looked at his nephew, an eyebrow raised.

"Were you too set on collecting the gym badges and fighting team rocket?" He asked, almost in a jokey way.

"Sort of." Joe admitted. "I already have three badges and I've caught six pokémon, so my team is doing well."

"Excellent." His uncle exclaimed a little too over the top. "You're doing well for yourself so far then." Joe tugged at his jacket collar.

"But there's also… something else." Joe admitted. His uncle looked at him.

"What is it?" He asked. Joe took a deep breath.

"Team Rocket is back after all." He told him. "And this time I have some proof. They've full on attacked us, Me, Winter and Silver, several times. And it's not just grunts, they have new commanders leading them. They have a whole army building up, probably ready already, and they're sending out groups to pull of missions. We've witnessed and stopped them several times. At Slowpoke well, at the day care, on route 35. They're doing something and whatever it is it can't be good. He stopped finally. His uncle had been listening with full interested. Then, after a few seconds of taking the information in, the greying haired man leaned back and looked away.

"It is as I feared then." He muttered. "They are coming back. And quicker than we anticipated." He rubbed his forehead. "I was hoping you'd have more time. But if they're sending commanders out onto the fields then they must already have their plans set in motion." Joe looked at his uncle.

"What can we do?" He asked, concerned. His uncle looked at him through the long distance video.

"I don't know." He said honestly. His eyes narrowed, confidently and unbeatably. "But we shouldn't lose hope. For now, if you or your friends come across any rocket grunts on a mission stop them at all costs. Whatever they are doing, whatever they are planning, they must be stopped before they can pull it off. I don't know what I can do to help, but I'll talk with Professor Oak and Professor Elm and see what they think we should do."

"Okay, uncle." Joe nodded, trying to put a confident face on. The whole feeling of his adventure had become more serious now that his uncle was looking so worried.

"I'll also contact your father and see if he can do something to help." Joe looked a little less agreeing with that idea.

"No, you don't have to call in him. He's not needed here." He tried to argue. The screen was starting to go blurry. Static spread across it like a plague. He could see his uncle's face through it becoming both annoyed and worried at the same time.

"I'm losing the connection." He said quickly. "I've got to go. Stay safe." The signal died.

"Uncle! Uncle! Joe shouted, shaking the screen, trying to get the signal back. Nothing but blackness showed on its plastic and glass face. Joe let go of the machine. Casually he turned around to see everyone in the room staring at him, apologised for his loudness and hurriedly left the building, heading after his friends through National Park and towards Ecruteak City.

* * *

He ran down the pathway through the national park and out through a gate on the right side of the fence in the fountain pavilion, still carrying the fully awake and gaping Casey in his arms. He seemed to be enjoying the sudden speed of their run. Joe found Ralph waiting not so patiently for him there, his wings folded up into flaps and a tired and fed up look on his face. Joe reached him and apologised for his lateness. Then the two companions hurried down the new pathway, closing the metal gate behind them. Winter and Silver were already ahead of them, deciding to move on and leave Ralph to make sure Joe knew where to go after them. It didn't take him long to catch up. He and Ralph saw them after about two minutes of running and sped up, eventually reaching them about half way down the short grassy path.

"Ah, so you finally catch up." Silver muttered, surprisingly a little glad to see him. Maybe he was beginning to dislike Winter's company, but Joe didn't know how his company would be any better. Maybe he was still thinking about that girl Winter had caught him with, whoever she had been.

"There's no pulling the wool over your eyes, I see." Joe joked with him. This got a laugh from Silver. Joe wasn't sure why the boy was more upbeat recently. It didn't seem right. But Joe had to admit he preferred it to his winning, disrespectful moaning about everything he did. He was actually starting to like the boy, but not much. He could at least tolerate him now. But maybe that was something. Maybe that was a step towards a possible friendship. Then Joe remembered who he was thinking of, and reminded himself that Silver becoming a nice guy was as likely as riding on the back of a legendary dragon. It just would not happen.

"Did you talk to your uncle?" Winter asked, smiling warmly at Joe, Ralph and Casey. Joe nodded.

"Yeah, he picked up in the end. He was probably asleep at the time." He told her. "He's doing well."

"Did you tell him about Team Rocket?" She pressed. Joe nodded again, his expression becoming a little grimmer.

"I did." He told her. "And this time he believed me. He said he'd talk with Professor Oak and Elm about what they should do."

"Ha. What could two elderly professors and an Ex trainer do to help?" Silver scoffed, a little too impolitely. Joe glanced at him.

"I don't think referring to my uncle as an Ex trainer is very accurate." Joe warned him. "He may not battle much, but that doesn't mean he doesn't battle at all. You should have been there to see when he confronted Archer in Pallet Town."

"Besides, you've never even met the man." Winter added, also standing up for Joe's uncle. "Walker's a good man. He's smart. He'll think up something that would help us out over here."

"Still, what could the professors do to help?" Silver asked as they began walking again. "What'll they do? Throw pokedexes at them?"

"You know that Oak used to be a trainer himself, right?" Winter told him, looking a little annoyed by his arrogance now. "In fact in his heyday they said he was one of the best."

"Yeah, but what about now?" Silver argued. "And what of Elm. He's just a nerd really. He doesn't look like someone who could hold their own in a thumb war, let alone a pokémon battle."

"How about you stay quiet." Joe told him. "Whatever they decide, my uncle and the professors will do their best to help out, and even if it turns out that they can just be moral support."

"Alright, alright." Silver said, sounding apologetic but not really meaning it. They were silent in their walk for a while. Then Silver spoke up again, breaking immediately his promise to be quiet. "Why do you only have an uncle?" He asked Joe. "Do you not have any parents?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Joe told him sharply, looking at him with an expression of exaggerated annoyance. He adjusted his bag over his shoulders, keeping Casey tucked under his arm as he did so. Silver tutted under his breath.

"Sorry I asked." He muttered to himself.

Again they walked in quiet for a while, being allowed a proper look around the area that the path went through. They had stepped into a thin forest, the trees around them not terribly tall, but still towering over them, their leaves turning brown and red and orange with the arriving cold weather. The bulking trunks stood rooted to the soft dirt floor of the flat forest land, leaning in the wind like fat, posing wooden sculptures. Even with the harsh wing blowing through the trunk lines, causing the air to whistle eerily, the atmosphere of the route was much calmer and more serene than that of the open field routes or the cities or even the riverside routes. It was a thankful relaxant in comparison to the last couple of days. Ralph was even enjoying himself, something Joe hadn't seen for a while. He'd seemed on his guard a lot for the last few days. Maybe today would be different to the others. Maybe today they'd just be able to relax and not have to worry about battling Team Rocket or facing any real battles or anything that would be seriously distracting. As Joe thought this he realised that Winter had asked him a question.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"I said, how is Casey doing?" She asked him. Joe looked at the little bundle of egg shell and adorableness in his arms. Casey smiled back up at him, giving a content wide eyes giggle.

"Well he's happy." Joe told her.

"Has he been eating okay?" Winter asked.

"Yeah, I think." Joe said. "He certainly has an appetite. Five berries he finished off this morning." Joe smiled at his little baby pokémon and nuzzled his forehead. "Who's a cute little egg? Yes you are. Yes you are." Winter smiled a little. She thought it was cute how Joe was acting like a father to this pokémon he had saved. Silver and Ralph however thought it was quite weird. They looked at each other with the same freaked out expression, and they suddenly realised how similar to each other they were. They looked away again, feeling an unnerving amount of relatability to the other. It was at this point the two of them decided that they didn't like babies.

"At least he's eating solid foods now, right." Winter said.

"No." Joe agreed. "I must admit I'm a little glad of that." He chuckled a little. "I'm wondering now when he's going to decide to…

"Does anyone else see that odd tree in front of us?" Silver asked suddenly. This comment snapped Joe and Winter out of their conversation, causing them to look up at the path ahead again. And, to their surprise, there was a really odd looking tree placed dead centre at the end of it. The group stopped and looked at it. It wasn't too far ahead of them, standing maybe thirty metres ahead in between a small gap of thick trees leading unto the next path junction. That junction led two ways. One path went north towards Ecruteak city, the groups set destination, the other lead east back towards Violet city. And this tree was standing at the centre of the junction, blocking of the three roads with its outstretched arms. What made this tree odd wasn't just the location it was in. By all respects it looked like a tree. It had a couple of long branches with large bunches of leaves on the ends, a thick trunk and a couple of visible roots at its base. The oddest part of it was its size. The tree was at most four foot tall, only just smaller than the three trainers and a lot smaller then Ralph. It had only two branches, but these branches were thin and long with three circular bunches of leaves on the ends. As for the trunk, the tree was somehow the same width and length all the way down, with two weird black knots at the top, a weird cut line underneath them and a broken split branch poking out from the top of the trunk. In fact it looked more like a body then a trunk. The two roots visible at the base were tiny but thick, hardly breaking out from the ground at all. It really was a weird looking spectacle to see.

"How did it even get there?" Winter asked, giving the strange shaped tree a clean look over from a distance.

"I have no idea." Joe told her, also inspecting this weird thing in the road. "There's not soil for it to grow on. It doesn't even look really, does it?" They walked closer to the tree. Soon they were standing hardly a few feet away from it, drawn to it like bees to a flower, or to a honey trap.

"Who cares what it's doing here." Silver muttered, stepping closer to the weirdly shaped, weirdly sized tree in their way. "It's in our way, and we need to get past it."

"What are you planning to do?" Joe asked him. "Push your way past it."

"Yeah." Silver told him unabashedly. "I can just about squeeze past it's arm, I think. No need to let a weird tree get in my way, is there." Joe couldn't really fault him on that thinking.

"I must admit." Winter muttered. "He may be hard-headed, but at least he's not reluctant." Joe smiled a little at that comment, especially after he heard Silver's reaction to it.

"I heard that. "He called to her as he stepped up to the tree and tried to lift its left branch up so he could pass under it, only to find it was practically immovable. "Who you calling hard-headed?"

"It was a complement." Winter told him.

"Oh was it now." Silver teased back. "Now leave me alone. I'm trying to get past this tree."

"Try punching it." Joe told him.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Silver just about managed to squeeze past the small tree's large fanning out branch, almost passing by it unharmed. Then he felt something tug at his jacket. He looked back and saw that one of the small sticks pointing out of the branch had caught him. "Damn it." Silver muttered, pulling on his jacket to free it. But no matter how hard he tried to free it, the jacket remained stuck. Silver became annoyed. "Come on, now." He muttered. "Just let go already." He suddenly stopped. For a second he could have sworn he saw the branch move by itself, as if it had flinched or flexed a muscle. Then, quite suddenly, he saw the branch shake. "What…?" He was about to exclaim. Then, without any warning. The branch lashed forward, throwing him back across the pathway on his back. Silver coughed and lay winded with surprise. He had no idea what had just happened or why, but he knew that, somehow, the tree had moved. "What on earth was that?" He muttered.

"Do you just see that?" Joe gasped. Winter and Ralph nodded.

"The tree just flung him several feet away." Winter muttered, her mouth agape.

"Cro-o." Ralph agreed, his own mouth hanging the widest, revealing his retracted fangs, looking amazed by what he had just witnessed. Silver rolled over to spot the trees branch returning to the position it had been in before, somehow trying to act like nothing had happened.

"Am I going mad?" He asked, more to himself than anyone else who happened to be nearby.

"No, we saw it, too." Joe told him quickly. "Maybe we should get out of here. Find another way to Ecruteak city maybe." He heard an arrogant scoff.

"Screw that. I'm getting past this tree if it kills me." Silver was already back onto his feet, marching towards the statue like plank with a clear huff I his stance.

"I think it might do if you try pushing past it again." Joe told him. Sure enough Silver tried to push past the small tree again, ramming into its outstretched branch and trying to break it back. But no matter how hard he pushed the branch hardly even seemed to stretch or bend. Then, with the same muscular movement, the tree branch shoved him back, striking Silver in the gut and winding him, causing him to wince like a little girl.

"Damn plant's got a nasty punch." He muttered. The tree began to move now. Its trunk began to vibrate and shake. The ground it was slightly dug into began to crack a little and shake.

"I'm starting to suspect that that's not a tree after all." Winter muttered. Sure enough she was right. After all, trees couldn't stand up on two legs, trees didn't have faces on their trunks, and trees didn't glare with eyes. This thing did and had all three of these. The fake tree stood up on the two short fat roots at the bottom of its trunk, which turned out to have ends shaped like feet. Its branches flexed and changed position, moving in front of the tree and becoming a leaf covered shield of defence. The weird black knots on the top of the trunk suddenly grew, as if they were opening up, and then they blinked. The cut bellow them began emitting a low pitch, gruff and awakening grumble. The knot eyes on its head looked at the trainers in front of it, and it gave of a pestered growl. It had been rudely awakened and it was not happy.

"That thing's alive." Joe muttered.

"I can see that." Winter whispered back.

"What even is it." Silver asked aloud, scurrying backwards across the floor and standing next to the two trainers with him. The tree looked at them with contempt, but it didn't attempt to move away from where it stood. It just glared at them menacingly, hoping they would go away. Sadly it didn't work.

"What should we do?" Winter asked. "If that thing is the pokémon then we should maybe find a way to move it or get past it.

"Agreed." Silver butted in. "But why just move it. Let's just take it out." Before anyone could argue back he was back to his feet, holding a pokeball in his hands. "Go, Totodile!" He yelled as the ball was released from his grip and popped open on the ground. Totodile jumped out in a blast of red light, yapping and giggling like the happy-go-lucky beast it was. "Bite that thing on the arm!" Silver shouted. Totodile nodded obligingly and ran at the target in front of it, his jaw open and chomping.

"Silver, wait a second." Joe called, wanting to stop him but already way too late. "Maybe we shouldn't…" He never got the chance to finish his sentence. The second he began Totodile had already reached his target, jumping forward and lunging at it. His large blue jaw grappled the fake tree's arm and he hung from it, expecting to drag it down with his arriving force. But instead the tree just looked at him, its arm not moving. On top of that Totodile hadn't realised that its bark would be so tough. His eyes widened as his jaw ached, his teeth cracking against the stone shell body of the thing that looked to be a small tree. Totodile let go, rubbing his jaw and spiting small chucks of dust and tooth. The tree raised a foot and kicked him, sending the small amphibious lizard rolling backwards.

"Hey, don't do that to my pokémon!" Silver complained. "Come on, Totodile. Show that thing what you're made of!" Totodile stood up again from where he'd landed on the ground and looked at the tree. It looked back. Totodile narrowed his eyes and ran in again to pull off another bite attack, this time on its leg. However he never even managed to get close. As the confident and unyielding little reptile rushed in, the pseudo tree crouched slightly, leaning back on one of its branches in a sudden swift movement. Its root foot came sliding across the ground towards the little water pokémon. Then totodile was flying upwards, his head spinning over his heels as his feet were swiped out from underneath him. He made it about two foot of the floor before landing painfully on his tail. He exclaimed loudly, his eyes doubling in size. Then he began crying, hugging his tail which was swelling and bulging rug with pain.

"Get Totodile out of there, Silver!" Joe instructed. "That thing's too strong for him. Silver looked from him, then to his pokémon.

"Hold on, Totodile!" He cried, running in to grab him. But when he got close the fake tree creature lashed out with a branch, nearly smashing Silver in the side of the head. He stepped back, avoiding the attack just in time. The tree glared at him. It wasn't going to let him or any of them get any closer.

"What do we do?" Winter asked. "We can't just fight it off, can we? Winter asked. Joe looked at her, his expression one of concern.

"We might have to." He told her. "If we don't then it might just try and kill Totodile and Silver. He reached for his pokeballs, deciding who to release. In the end he sent his whole team out. "Go, Pippy! Go, Leaf! Go, Mar! Go, Quill! Knock that path blocking tree down!" The four pokeballs snapped open and Joe's pikachu, bayleef, azumarill and cyndaquil appeared, confused by what they were doing out so early, but quickly jumping into a ready fighting stance. "You too, Ralph!" Joe added, turning to his closest pokémon. Ralph smiled at him and readied to fly straight through the blocking opponent. He'd never fought a tree before but he imagined it couldn't be that tough. Joe readied for what was likely to be a big fight. "Leaf, razor leaf! Pippy, thunderbolt! Mar, bubblebeam! Quill, ember! Ralph, steel wing!" The five pokémon on his team attacked. Ralph was first, him being the fastest of the five of them. He shot like a glistening silver and purple cross at the foe, his wings out and tougher than the strongest steel. He reached his target and struck. But, to everyone's surprise, he failed to even make a dent. The second his wing struck the tree's bark it went soft and limp. His attack failed. Ralph spun out of the air and landed a few feet behind the tree, on the opposite end of the path. "Ralph!" Joe cried, wanting to run and help his friend, but Ralph was stuck on the opposite side of the path, behind the pseudo tree, and it wasn't going to let him past. Fortunately Ralph was already moving to get back up, so he wasn't hurt too badly. Leaf flicked his head greenery and sent a small flurry of crescent moon green blades flying out, but they too bounced of the tree's bark, causing no form of damage to it whatsoever. Pippy charged a thunderbolt and shocked it, but the most that did was cause the tree to grin unaffectedly. Quill tried breathing fire on it, but that did nothing. The fire simply bounced back of the beasts shell and hit the grass, causing a small spark of forest fire. Mar took the fire out before using his own attack. He spat a long and jointed cloud of clear blue bubbles from his mouth, sending them with surprising speed towards the fake tree blocking the path. This was the only attack that seemed to do anything to it. The bubbles mostly popped the second they touched the tree, with a few actually doing any obvious damage, but it was clear that the attack had indeed done something to it. When the attack finished the pokémon looked a little hurt, flinching a little and looking slightly more stubborn.

"That's not working!" Silver shouted at him. "Why are you even bothering? Just get out of here. I'll deal with this." Joe glared at him, truly amazed by the level his stubborn stupidity had reached.

"Are you mad?" He shouted. "That thing will beat the much out of you! Totodile can't take it on his own, and neither can your other pokémon."

"Yes they can!" He shouted. Silver threw his other pokeballs out. "Go Hoothoot, Go Gastly, Go Abra! Take that hulking annoyance out of the way!" Silver's other pokémon appeared and went in to attack. Hoothoot flew in and pecked the tree on the face, only to get swatted away a second later, leaving only a chip it its beak and no mark on the foes bark. Gastly tried to lick the opponent, only to find that it tasted like sandpaper, and had the same effect on its tongue. It too was swatted away by the writhing angry fake plant. Abra couldn't even make an attack. All it could do was teleport and try to get the tree's attention, but this didn't work as the four foot tall fake plant refused to move away from its place. It did try and swat abra away, but didn't manage to hit it. Finally Silver was starting to see the point.

"Yeah, this isn't working." He realised. He turned to Joe and Winter. "Time to go." He decided.

"What about your pokémon?" Winter asked. Silver was already one step ahead of her. He held out four pokeballs in one go.

"Totodile, Hoothoot, Gastly, Abra, return!" He called. Four flashes of light appeared and his four pokémon were withdrawn back into their pokeballs. Joe did the same.

"Leaf, Quill, Pippy, Mar, come back!" He called. They too vanished in four flashes of red light. Only Ralph was left. "Ralph, come on. We're getting out of here." He called. Ralph took off from the ground, flying low, just skimming the top of the pseudo tree. Unfortunately it saw him trying to pass overhead and perceived this as an attack. So it swung its strong brunch up, hitting Ralph in the wing and causing him to crash. "Ralph!" Joe exclaimed in fear as his best friend hit the path face first. Casey fought and kicked in Joe's grip. He wanted to go and fight the road blocking tree himself, but Joe wasn't about to let his youngest pokémon fight a surprisingly strong opponent head on. He passed the kicking and complaining and eager Casey to Winter. "Hold him for me." He instructed. Then he rushed over to Ralph. He lifted his friend up under the wings and made sure he was okay. The pseudo tree was gating agitated. It was preparing another attack. "Are you okay?" He asked. Ralph groaned. He was still complaining at least. That was a good sign. "Let's get out of here." Joe told him. He lifted Ralph up with a heavy grunt, putting all his weight into his legs as he lifted the large crobat into his arms and tried to carry him away. The tree decided to attack again, except this time it wasn't close enough to actually hit either Joe or Ralph. So it went for its best option. It dug up a huge stone from the ground and hurled it at them.

"Look out!" Winter shouted. Joe looked back and jumped aside, just avoiding being struck by the falling rock. He was amazed that this thing was so aggravated by them. It was practically trying to kill them.

"I think getting out of here would be a good idea." He muttered as he finally reached Winter and Silver. "And fast." He grunted as he adjusted his grip under Ralph's wings. "Silver, help me carry him." He gasped. Silver rooked reluctant.

"No. You carry him." He argued. Joe looked at him sternly but also with great concern for his friend.

"If you don't help then it'll take longer to get out of here. You carry his back while I take his head, okay! Silver, give me a hand already!"

"Fine!" Silver took Ralph's back in both his arms and tried to hold him up. The crobat was surprisingly a lot heavier than he looked. "Right. Now can we get out of here" Silver protested.

"Yes. Winter, hold on to Casey. Let's go." The three trainers ran away, leaving the violent and aggravated pseudo tree behind them. It glared at them with knot eyes as the disappeared into the horizon. Then, when they were gone, it dug itself back into the floor, returning into its idle state.

* * *

The three trainers kept running until they reached the main building of the National Park. There they relaxed again, took a rest, healed their hurt pokémon and asked themselves what the hell just happened. Joe had one of the nurses checking Ralph to make sure he wasn't badly hurt. After a few minutes of checking she decided that he was okay to go and that he wasn't hurt too bad. After that Joe and Ralph returned to find a heated argument going on between Winter and Silver. It seemed that Silver wanted to go back straight away and take down the over aggressive tree, and Winter was trying to stop him.

"You can't just stomp back there like that!" Winter was shouting at him. "It's clearly too tough for your pokémon. They'll just get hurt again. Don't you remember how easily it stopped Totodile and all the others?" The arrogant redheaded boy crossed his arms defiantly.

"That thing stood in my way." He told her simply. "Nothing does that. And what's more, it didn't move. It fought back. I'm gonna go over there and teach it a lesson if I want to!"

"That's not a good idea." Winter argued back. Then she noticed Joe returning. "How's Ralph?" She asked.

"He's okay." Joe said, patting his starter pokémon on the back. Ralph flinched a bit with pain, but smiled back anyway, trying to seem upbeat. "What were you talking about?" He asked. Winter frowned at Silver.

"Someone wants to go back and take down the tree that was in our way, by himself." Silver shrugged under her gaze.

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy." He said, annoyed. "I can tell you both want to do the same thing really."

"You're an idiot, Silver!" Joe muttered, disrespectfully. Silver looked offended.

"Hey, take that back!" He snapped.

"You can't just charge over there and expect to take something like that down." He explained. "Did you even see what it did? It withstood all our attacks. Nothing we did had any effect."

"That's why we go back and find out what does work." Silver argued.

"And maybe break a few more bones and kill a few more of our pokémon at the same time." Joe muttered.

"That didn't happen last time." Silver reminded him, trying to sound like that was a good thing.

"But it could happen this time!" Joe told him. Silver huffed.

"Fine, you grumpy sourpuss." He muttered, annoyed. He gestured his arms about like a franticly broken windmill. "You want me to stay here, so I'll stay here. Jeez!" He crossed his arms and fell quiet, allowing the others to think finally.

"Did you find out anything about what that thing was?" Winter asked after a few seconds. "Did you tell anyone, like the nurse who was heeling Ralph?" Joe nodded.

"I did." He told her.

"And?" Winter persisted.

"Apparently that thing was a pokémon, some species called a sudowoodo, a pokémon that looks like a tree but isn't one. Apparently they get a few of them causing problems around here at the time of the year." He explained. Winter didn't seem to recognise the name.

"Can't say I've ever heard of a sudowoodo before." She told him. "Must be a Johto specific pokémon."

"It is." Joe told her. "According to the nurse this is the only place they're found in the whole region. She said that they have a tendency to block up the road and stop trainers. She seemed surprised there was even one there at this time of year. They're usually gone before autumn. This must be a defiant one refusing to leave."

"Did she say anything about what we should do about it?" Winter continued.

"She mentioned that it was a rock type." Joe told her. "So you're in luck. Heavy amounts of water will get them to move, but considering the resilience that thing had we'll need a lot of it."

"Good thing I have a lot of water pokémon then, isn't it." Winter chuckled a little.

"But there could be another problem." Joe told her. "The nurse said they're also aggressive. If someone attempts to move them they have a habit of fighting back. So in that case it's probably best we don't try and battle it."

"If we try finding a way around that could mean days of backtracking." Winter told him.

"That would be better than getting all out pokémon hurt." Joe told her.

"Yeah, but that also means we lose a lot of time." Winter reminded him. "And we don't know how much of that we need."

"Are you suggesting we do go and fight it away?" He asked. Winter didn't look happy about it, but that did seem to be the only real option open to them. If they backtracked to find a way around it, they might never find one and just keep going further the way they came.

"I think it might be the best option." She told him. Silver seemed delighted that she was agreeing with his original opinion.

"You see! He exclaimed, smiling wide. "That's what I was saying in the first place. We go back and teach that road blocking tree a lesson." Winter glared at him.

"No." She told him simply. "We go back and force it to move. We're not trying to kill it, we just need to get past it."

"That won't be easy." Joe told her.

"No." She agreed. "It would probably be best if only one of us confronts it. That way we're not getting in the way of each other or causing it to get more aggravated."

"So who should be the one to attack it?" Silver asked. The group went slightly quiet. "I vote me." Silver said, holding up an arm.

"I'm going to take it on." Winter interrupted him.

"You?" Silver exclaimed, disappointed. "But why?"

"Because I have the most water types." Winter told him. "I was also trained as a gym trainer, so I'm better with them."

"That's not fair." Silver moaned. "I wanted to take the tree down."

"Silver, shut up." Joe told him, sternly. "Winter's going to do it and there's nothing you can say to change that." Silver huffed again, folding his arms like a depraved child.

"Fine." He muttered.

"There's something else I need." Winter said quickly.

"What?" Joe asked.

"I'm not sure that my pokémon will be able to take it down by themselves." She told him. "In order to make sure this goes smoothly I need to have as many water pokémon on my team as I can get. I only have four with me, but that might not be enough." She looked at him, looking a little nervous but going forward with her question. "I hope that this isn't too out of the blue, but… could I possibly trade one of my pokémon for Mar?" She asked. Joe was quiet. He didn't know what to say.

"You want Mar on your team?" He asked. Winter nodded.

"Yes. He's a water type, so that would mean I have a solid team of five." She explained. Joe continued to look at her. Subconsciously he unhooked Mar's pokeball and held it in his hands, comforting himself.

"But… he's my pokémon." He muttered. "I… I couldn't just… give him up."

"I won't keep him for long." She explained. "Once we're done with this mess I'll trade him back." Joe still seemed reluctant.

"I don't know, Winter." He said, uncertainly. "It's still asking a lot of me." Silver, who had no idea about any of Joe's past, couldn't understand what Joe was so uncertain about.

"Dude, just give her your damn azumarill and let her get this over with." He said, not so kindly or respectfully. "It's not like she's taking him away from you? What are you, a kid? You must have traded pokémon before."

"Shut up, Silver. You don't know what you're talking about." Winter snapped quietly back at him.

"I don't understand why he's not saying yes is what I'm trying to say." Silver continued.

"It's Joe's decision, let him make it himself."

Joe seemed to be struggling with this choice. He really didn't want to give his pokémon away, but at the same time he knew that Winter wasn't a horrible person. She'd take care of him, she'd train him well and she'd hand him back when she was done. The problem wasn't with her, though. It was with him. Even though he knew it was only a trade, and that they could trade back at any time, his mind was screaming similarities at him. There was too much similar to… what had happened before. He had one memory on his mind, the most painful one in his recent memory. The death of his first caught pokémon. It awoke every now and then, and it still hurt like the day it happened. Sting had been the first pokémon Joe had ever caught, Ralph not counting as Joe didn't actually catch him in a pokeball himself. He trained Sting, used him to battle three gym leaders and evolved him to his full evolution. Then, when they were halfway between the third and fourth gym, they had been attacked and Sting had been killed. And, even though there was nothing similar to that event, he still couldn't help but draw similarities. Mar was the first pokémon Joe had caught in Johto. He had been around for three gym leader battles. He had evolved into his final evolutionary stage, and they were currently on their way to the fourth gym. Joe didn't want history to repeat itself. The pain would be too much to him. And, even though they weren't battling team rocket this time, the threat seemed greater to him then it really was. He couldn't let go of another team member. He refused to accept that as an option. "I… I can't." He said finally, speaking weakly as if he knew in his heart he was failing his friends and team. "I just can't. I can't let him go." Ralph put his arm around Joe's shoulder, comforting him in his struggle. He understood exactly where Joe was coming from. He'd been there when Sting was killed. He'd seen his friend grieve. He could completely understand and sympathise with his fear. Meanwhile Silver could not understand or sympathise. He seemed to be getting outraged, and this conversation didn't even involve him.

"You're really saying you'd rather hold onto a barely useless azumarill rather than allow your friend to take on a posing tree pokémon with fire useful water types?" He said, staring at Joe as if he was refusing to fight in a war to save his country because he didn't want to get his shoes dirty. Winter glared at the redhead boy.

"Silver! Shut Up!" Now!" She snapped, speaking sharply and loudly. Silver shut up, unable to fight back against such a powerful and imposing tone. Winter calms down again and turned back to Joe, looking him in the eyes with the honest gaze of friendship. "Maybe if I put it this way it might help." She suggested. "How about I look after Mar for you. I'll take care of him, train him, look after him, make sure he's fed, make sure he stays healthy and make sure he stays out of danger. I'll make sure that nothing bad ever happens to him. And, in return, I'll let you take care of Cutter for me in return." Joe looked up again, looking a little surprised and confused by her suggestion.

"You're giving me Cutter?" He asked. "But you just caught him. I would have thought you'd want to use him on your team?" Winter shrugged, pulling out Cutter's great ball and looking at it in her hand. She imagined that the aggressive scyther she'd caught the previous day wouldn't be happy to be switching trainers, but then again it wasn't his choice. He didn't even get to spend time with Winter, so he probably couldn't care any less.

"It would have been nice to use him in battle." She admitted. "But I'm no bug type user. I prefer to keep my feet on the shore and my head under water." She smiled at him. "So what do you say? Do you want to go through with this? If you don't I can still try with just three water types." She stepped back, allowing Joe some space to think. Joe stood there for a while, pondering over his thoughts, unable to come up with a decision. His indecision was driving him mad. He wanted to keep his pokémon close, to hold them tight his heart and make sure that none of them, not even one of them, ever came to any harm. In his subconscious he wanted to believe that he was the only one who could care for them. He didn't want to have to trust anyone else with them because, deep down, he knew that most people can't be trusted, even if not insidiously. But he did trust Winter. She had always been kind to him. She always stood up for him and respected his decisions. She was there for him when he needed her, and he was there for her, though he told himself she never really needed him. She was his friend. His best friend. He knew he could trust her. But telling himself that wasn't as easy. But as he though he realised that, no matter what, bad things would eventually happen to him. One day some event would occur that he couldn't sort out himself, and that his pokémon might get hurt in the process. It had happened before, Sting's death was one of those incidents. And since then he had told himself that his team needed him as much as he needed them. Then he looked up and into Winter's kind sea green eyes, and he realised something. Maybe, sometimes, when you know that you can't take care of something, maybe it's best to let it go.

Joe took a deep breath. This hadn't been an easy decision for him. But he was making it, and, in the deepest part of his heart, he knew that it would turn out okay. "Okay." He said finally, breathing out with a huge exhaust of tension. "I agree." He told her. "Let's trade." Winter smiled at him. Ralph patted Joe on the shoulder. He had made the toughest choice he could there. And Joe had to admit making the decision deed make him feel a little lifted. He didn't feel so bad or upset anymore. But he didn't feel happy. But he did trust Winter, and he knew she would do her best to take care of Mar.

"I promise I'll look out for him." Winter told him, understanding Joe's internal struggle and seeing how heard it was for him to agree to it. "Well done, by the way. That can't have been easy for you." Joe nodded. It wasn't easy.

"Finally you make the smart choice." Silver muttered. "Took you long enough."

"Silver, I told you to shut your goddamn mouth!" Winter shouted. Silver backed up, taken by surprise by her wrath. Winter took a second to calm down again. Joe had never seen her get so angry so quickly. But he was grateful for her snapping on Silver. He wasn't helping in any definition of the word. She smiled at Joe and stepped past him. "Alright, then." She told him. "Let's get this over with, then we can get back on track."

* * *

The transition of pokémon from trainer to trainer would have originally been thought of as a simple thing. When most people perceive trading, they think of one trainer handing another trainer the pokeball with a pokémon in it, in return for the other trainers handed pokémon. Logically this is how it would have been designed. Sadly the person who came up with lawful pokémon trading wasn't in a logical state of mind. It turned out that lawful trading, that being the in law requirements to trade a pokémon between two people, required a specific machine that was part of the Pokémon Centre's PC. This machine changed details printed into the pokeball itself, like the owning trainer's ID, their name and an image of them. It also took down a record of who had traded with who into the PC and the accounts of the trainers, so that if there was a case to sue on the grounds that a trainer took a pokémon unlawfully there was strong visual and written evidence either for or against that. It seemed that Winter had used this machine before, as she knew how to make it extend out of the PC with little effort or need to push buttons to find out what worked. The machine wasn't much more than a thin line of clear plastic tubing on both ends plugged into what looked like a worded calculator. At each side was a small cup, the size and shape of a pokeball, with the plastic tube hanging over it, high enough to place and remove the ball under it.

The two trainers place their traded pokémon onto their specific places and switch the machine on.

"Are you sure about this?" Winter asked, looking at Joe again. "You can still turn back if you want." Joe took a second to think. Then he shook his head.

"Do it." He told her. Winter nodded.

"Okay." She whispered. She turned the machine on and pressed the button marked 'Trade'.

* * *

After a not so long run later the trio of human trainers and the one overly confident crobat found themselves back at the split road, staring down the now pretending-to-be-a-tree fake tree that had blocked their way earlier and attacked them when they got close. Now they were hear to move it aside. This time it was Winter leading the group. Joe was holding back a little, Ralph at his side and an unconfident expression covering his face. The transition had gone through. He still had five pokémon on his team, not counting Casey, who was too young to fight still, but one of them wasn't Mar. He'd decided that he would take him back after. He didn't want to leave his pokémon with another trainer. He'd let Winter use him here, then he'd take him back, handing her pokémon back at the same time. But he trusted Winter to take the right action here. She certainly looked prepared to battle a giant rock tree. The group stopped not too far away from the bulky mimicking pokémon, Winter stepping ahead of all of them, a pokeball in each hand as she prepared to battle. The tree didn't move, but even though it took no notice of them it was clear that it was the same tree from earlier. It was the same size and shape, and it shivered now and then.

"It might be a good idea for you guys to keep back." She warned her friends, glancing back at them. "Just in case." Joe and Silver wisely took her advice. They made three big steps backwards, giving her all the space she needed. Winter stared at the fake tree ahead of her. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, concentrating on it and it alone. "Alright." She whispered to herself. "The first thing to do: wake it up." She released the two pokeballs in her hands. Staryu appeared from her right, and River appeared from her left. Once they were out she grabbed another two pokeballs, releasing them. Zephyr and Tailless made their appearances, taking up positions besides and above their team members. Last to be released was Winter's newest water type. Mar. The fuzzy waterproof furred Aquamouse looked a little confident and surprisingly calm, considering he'd just gone through a trade. Joe hadn't told Mar initially beforehand, as he assumed he'd trade him back. Mar wasn't too concerned. All he was worried about at that point was the task at hand, i.e. the pseudo plant dead ahead blocking the road. Winter stretched her hands with anticipation. "Okay, let's do this."

"You can do it, Winter." Joe called, encouragingly. She smiled back at him, thankfully. Then she made her first command.

"Zephyr, use whirlwind. Wake it up so we can move it properly." Zephyr glided a little ahead of his team, so that he didn't hit them with a backlash of wind. Once he was far enough he began flapping his huge feathery wings hard in the air, creating gale force gusts that rushed across the path like the wake of a hurricane. The massive turbulence of air buffeted the three foot tall rock disguised as a plant, causing it to shake and bend back a little. The knot eyes of the pokémon twitched a little as its consciousness began switch on again. Its thin mouth turned to a grumble. Its branch arms began to flex. And then it was fully awake, yelling angrily at the wind battering against it. "That did it." Winter said. "Well done, Zephyr." Zephyr bowed in mid-air and sped back, returning to her side. "Now, let's get to work." She continued. "Staryu, River, blast it with hydro pump!" Staryu and River pulled or rolled themselves to the front of the group and pulled their heads back. Simultaneously they fired a huge torrent of cannon water from their gems/snouts right at the rudely awakened Sudowoodo. The large rock tree pokémon only just managed to hold back against the attack, but it was clear it was working. The force had uprooted it already and it was pressing back against the tidal wave of water hitting it. It crossed its branch arms across it's torso in an attempt to push back against the attack, and it seemed to be working. The tree took a full step forwards. Staryu and River were already begging to tire out. Using one attack for so long was exhausting, and they needed a rest. This is where the second part of Winter's attack came in.

"Tailless, use confusion." She instructed. Tailless yawned loudly. Then she tilted her head. Then she yawned again. Then she scratched at the ground. Then she yawned again. The third yawn was followed by a weird circular ball of pink psychic energy flying out of her open gullet and shooting towards the wild Sudowoodo. The psychic attack hit sudowoodo in the face, knocking it back a step again, just as Staryu and River's attack failed. The torrents stopped and the two water types took a second to get their strength back. Meanwhile Sudowoodo was getting angry. It was open to attack, and that's what it was preparing to do.

"Winter, it's going to use rock throw!" Joe warned. Sure enough the Sudowoodo was pulling a large rock from the ground, ripping it out from the earth and road and holding it up it its branch arms. Winter acted quickly.

"Mar, use rollout. Knock it off balance!" She instructed. Mar didn't argue or ignore her or disobey or use a different move or make any form of complaint. He simply did as he was told, hardly paying attention to the fact he had a new trainer. He rolled up into a ball and sped forwards, rolling at past lightning speed and shooting like a gravity struck comet towards his target. Mar hit Sudowoodo straight in the chest with serious force, causing it to flinch and drop the rock just as it was about to throw. The rock landed on its head and smashed into tiny pieces, causing some additional damage. Mar rolled away just in time, not letting any of the spare rock fall on him as he did so and avoiding a swinging brow from Sudowoodo as it angrily tried to land a hit. Joe tensed with anticipation. He was still concerned for his pokémon. He had only just avoid getting hurt. Joe realised that he was acting like a concerned father, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to see his pokémon hurt. Fortunately Mar made his way unhurt back to Winter's side, staying away from Sudowoodo and out of the way of Staryu and River as they again used their hydro pump attack to push Sudowoodo further back. The bulky stone tree stumbled against the force of the attack, trying to hold its own.

"It's moving." Silver called. "Keep it up and this might work after all." Winter saw the opportunity open to her, and took it.

"Tailless, confusion." She called. Tailless took a few seconds to yawn before firing another ball of pink energy at the Sudowoodo, hitting it in the stomach and causing it to flinch. "Zephyr, whirlwind!" Winter continued to command. Zephyr recreated a billowing gust of air that flew forth and battered the almost perfectly still pseudo tree, causing it to stumble a little. "Mar, rollout!" Winter finished her command. Mar rolled up into a ball and rolled, gaining speed as he did so. He rammed into Sudowoodo's legs and tripped it up, causing it to land flat on its face. That had done it. That had finished it off. Staryu, River and Zephyr ended their attacks, allowing the wild mimicking pokémon to have a breather. It looked up, staring at them from its bark stone flat face, glaring with black knot eyes and growling with its thin trembling line mouth. It stood back onto its root feet, wobbling a little. Then, with barely a word or a complaint or a second glance, the Sudowoodo turned around and disappeared into the forest. The fight was over. They had won and the path was clear.

Joe smiled as he watched Winter turn to face him and Silver, a big smile on her face. She cheered a little in her own congratulatory celebration. Silver and Joe cheered for her also, but not as much as she did. She seemed over-delighted by how quickly and easily she'd been able to move the faking tree that had blocked her way. Joe was amazed by how organised her plan had been. It had been ruthless. And she hadn't needed to knock it out or catch it. She'd used enough force to push it away and make it leave itself. He had to admit he'd had some doubt about it. He remembered the way she'd used Mar. He had obeyed her immediately, not putting up any complaints or ignoring any orders, just going ahead and doing what he was told. She seemed to have gained his trust quickly. Joe felt a small weight lift of him. Maybe it was better for Mar to be with her. She had made sure his attacks landed at the right time and he had managed to stay out of any harm during the fight. Maybe he was better off with her. It was clear she could take care of him and she knew how to use him in battle. Maybe we wouldn't need to hang onto his pokémon when he had someone like her around to help him. Winter ran up to Joe, a beaming smile on her face. Joe smiled back. He buckled back a bit when she hugged him suddenly and tightly.

"I did it!" She exclaimed. She sounded amazed about it. That made Joe wander if she'd been doubting herself before.

"You did it!" Joe cheered with her. Winter hugged him with excitement and relief. Then she let go again, stepping back and apologising for the out-of-nowhere bear hug.

"Well, I don't need Mar anymore." Winter told him, speaking a little quieter. "We can trade him back now. We can head back to the pokémon centre and trade our pokémon again." Joe suddenly realised that here there was another choice he could make. It wasn't a necessary choice. He could ignore it and nothing would truly lead out from it. But at the end of it there was a small flicker of light. Some kind of sign that suggested that, making this choice would free him. Joe did one of the toughest things he could be asked to do.

"You know what, you keep him." He said simply, smiling a little. He felt his ridged heart lift with a strange kind of relief. Winter looked at him, confused and surprised by his comment.

"Are you sure, Joe?" She asked, not wanting to agree for her friend's sake, but if this was what he wanted.

Joe nodded strongly, keeping the honest smile on his face. "I'm sure." He said, really pushing himself for this. He still wanted Mar back, but this wasn't about what he wanted. This was about what was best for his pokémon. Winter was a smart trainer. She could take care of him better then Joe could. "He's better off with you. You know how to use him. You know how to take care of him. He'll be happy with you. I'll be okay. I still have five other pokémon to care for." Winter nodded, looking Joe in the eyes to make sure he wasn't joking or pretending. But she could see his honesty like a glowing lightbulb inside a humanoid glass shell. She agreed.

"Okay." She told him. "I'll let you keep Cutter. He's probably better with you, too." She told him. Joe smiled with a nod.

"I'll hold onto him." He agreed. Winter smiled. Then she hugged him again.

"Thank you for trusting me." She whispered. Joe felt surprised. Then he hugged her back.

"That you for being confident in me." Joe said back. They both chuckled a little. Silver and Ralph gurgled with disgust.

"Uh, I don't wish to interrupt this touching moment." The double meaning was purposeful, even though he had ended up interrupting the moment though he said he wouldn't. "But we should probably get going on our way to Ecruteak. Unless you don't want to get there till midnight tomorrow." Joe and Winter backed away from each other, blushing lightly.

"O-of course." Joe agreed, stepping away and heading down the path. "Good idea. Well done, Silver. He walked down the path. Ralph and Winter followed after them, the girl trainer withdrawing her pokémon along the way. Silver followed them on, rolling his eyes, still a little grumpy about not being allowed to speak or fight.

"Of course it was the girl in the group that was allowed to move objects in the way." He muttered pointlessly to himself. "I never get allowed any fun."


	15. Chapter 15: Morty: A Man Among Spirits

Once the path was cleared of pseudo trees, the route north turned out to be rather short. It mainly consisted of a further walk into the forest, turning a few corners through the trees and eventually reaching a small area of clearing that lead through the rest of the forest. Finally, after forever walking up the empty wooded path of route 36, the trio found themselves at the edge of the next town, Ecruteak City. For a city it looked rather small, or at least empty and spread out. There were no buildings that touched each other at all. Each structure stood at least two metres away from another. And on top of that there didn't seem to be many houses. There were a couple of tall flats buildings but aside from that no separate homes were anywhere. Other buildings included a kimono dance theatre, a pokémon centre and pokémart, a gym and two tall towers, one of which was completely charred and burned and only just standing. The other seemed hidden in the woods just north of the city. The roads were made of a dark coloured stone cobble and even the grass looked a darker shade of green. Everything about the town seemed depressed, empty and burned. They wanted to reach this place? They were starting to wander if they were in the right place.

"This is it?" Silver wondered aloud, sounding outraged and disappointed. He curved his lip in distaste. "It's not very… appealing, is it?" Joe gave him a glance. Even though he agreed with Silver's opinion, he felt his reluctance and inability to see past an image was rather bothersome. He also felt that this was the first time he'd ever used the word bothersome.

"You don't know." Joe said, trying to seem hopeful. "It might be nicer than it looks. Maybe everyone's inside." He stepped through the open gateway with no gate, and into the city itself. The atmosphere reflected the look of the city a little. The whole place felt, not abandoned, but more lonesome. There was a faint whiff of smoke and ash in the air, possibly from the singed tower at the far end of town. He choked a little on the smell, but kept his head high and kept walking. "Well come on then." He called back to his companions. "Let's no stand around waiting all day. Let's get going."

"To where?" Silver asked.

"Where do you think?" Joe asked. "First we stop at the pokémon centre, then it's on to the gym."

"Of course." Silver muttered. "Where else would you go?"

"Oh cheer up, mopey." Winter smiled, nudging Silver in the back of the shoulder. "You can watch this time if you want." She followed after Joe and Ralph, heading with them to the pokémon centre, which was at the south side of the quiet town, pretty much right in front of them. Silver rolled his eyes with a tired and rather disappointed huff.

"Oh boy. Can't wait to watch that battle." He called and muttered at the same time. Reluctantly he followed after them, wondering what possible pokémon he could try and catch or train next. The options so far, taken from the pokémon they'd seen on the way there, weren't looking too promising.

* * *

Once the healing of pokémon was done, and he was ready to head out again, Joe stepped out through the poke centre's doors, looked around the city quickly, saw the gym nearby, and stepped in through its doors. The sliding glass panels moved aside for him as he entered and nearly fell straight into a deep black abyss. Winter managed to grab his bag as he fell forwards a little, losing balance as his foot hung slightly over the edge. From inside the bag Casey exclaimed in surprise and fear, looking out through the zip wide eyes at Winter's strained face. She pulled Joe back away from the ledge and helped him stand properly again.

"That was close." Winter muttered.

"Who the hell places a huge gaping pit at the entrance of their gym?" Joe wondered aloud with adrenaline shot anger. It did seem a weird place to put such an object. He sighed. "At least I didn't fall. That could have been messy.

"How do you get across?" Silver asked, looking in past them from the doorway. "Do you jump?" Joe looked back across the pit of darkness in front of him. It practically spread down the whole gym, leading up to some area of land shrouded in shadow and definitely too far to reach via jumping.

"I don't think I'm likely to reach." He told him, looking back.

"Then how do we get in?" Winter asked. Something small and made of grey stone rose up at the left end of the inside doorway, just behind the frame. Another odd object appeared on the opposite side. Then there was light. Two blue glowing ghostly fires ignited on the stone, illuminating the dark around them. And on the floor became visible a wide black metal path towards the shrouded stadium ahead. Down the black hidden path more lights rose and lit up, leading a straight path ahead, safely towards the centre of the battling location. The three trainers, and one crobat, followed the road as it became luminescent to them.

"Oh." Silver muttered, O mouthed.

"Well that makes me feel a little embarrassed." Joe admitted, looking at the floor in front of him. "So if I fell I would have hit the floor anyway." He realised. "So much for sneaky tricks." He stepped onto the unseen path lit by ghostly lights. Thankfully it didn't disappear as he did so, cutting away his repressing sudden fear of falling to his death at the bottom of a black pit. He took another step. He was still standing up, the usual way he did when gravity worked properly. He took a few more steps. "I think it's going to stay up." He called back to his friends. "Let's not stand on it too long to find out." They made their quick paced walk up the black hidden path towards the stadium up ahead. White stage lights from the rafters above were now flashing on, shedding brightness onto the stands, battlefield and podiums. And there was a figure sitting in the middle of it. He was young, maybe a few years older than the trio, but still a teenager at least. The first thing they noticed was his striking short blond hair, held up by a purple headband over his forehead and hair roots. His eyes were closed and he was sitting in a yoga prayer position, his legs crossed and his arms on his lap. He was wearing a black jacket and pail white jeans, with a purple scarf and black simple shoes. He lifted his head up and opened his eyes, looking at the arriving trainers. His sparkling lively eyes shone within the darkness around them, yet they also seemed to mist with essence of something beyond life, something that none of the trainers looking at him could put their finger on, mainly because it would go through it. The boy looked at them, he nodded a greeting, but his mouth remained shut.

"Is he the gym leader?" Winter asked.

"I'd think so." Joe told her. "There's only one way to find out. Hello!" Joe waved at the boy, stepping of the black fire lit path and onto the much safe stadium that wasn't likely to disappear under him. The boy continued to look at him. "Are you the gym leader here?" Joe asked. The boy nodded again, slowly this time, a small friendly smile on his face. Joe smiled back. "Great." He said quietly, happy he wasn't confronting some gym trainer by mistake. "I'd like to challenge you to a battle." He said, confidently.

"And you would want to do that because?..." The boy asked, speaking for the first time and taking Joe by surprise.

"Uh, t-to obtain the Ecruteak City gym badge, of course." Joe explained, stumbling a little on his words out of the shock. He hadn't expected him to suddenly start speaking. The boy nodded in understanding.

"Hmm. That would be a good reason." He agreed. "I am Morty. I am the gym leader here. I use ghost types."

'That would explain why this place is so eerie.' Joe thought to himself. Blue lights, black paths, enclosing darkness. This place looked like the kind of place ghosts would live, or go on holiday to get away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday living life style.

"Do you wish to battle now?" Morty asked, nonchalantly. Joe nodded down to him.

"Of course." Joe tod him. "Why wait when you can do it now?"

"Oh, alright." Morty said, sounding a little disinclined to be doing anything right now. He'd seemed to be happy meditating at that point, before Joe and his friends came in and interrupted, like they tend to do. He stood up, unfolding his legs and standing to his feet. Even though he was most likely older then Joe, he was actually slightly smaller than him. Joe was not terribly tall, especially for his age, but Morty was about a few inches smaller, his eyes meeting the level of Joe's nose. The gym trainer nodded to Joe in a ceremonial bow. "Then I accept your challenge, trainer." He said.

"My name's Joe." Joe told him quickly, saving Morty the embarrassment of having to call him trainer.

"Then I accept your challenge, Joe." Morty corrected himself. He clapped his palms together. "Let's not wait around. Let's get straight to it."

* * *

The battle went underway. Joe took up his place at the podium and prepared to fight, while Morty did the same at the opposite podium. Joe had decided to let Ralph go first. He didn't have any pokémon on his team built for taking out ghost types, like a dark type or even another ghost type, so Ralph was probably the best option for him right now. He certainly looked happy to be in the fight again. Winter and Silver sat at the stands on the side, waiting for the match to begin. Silver wasn't too happy about being forced up to the seats around the stadium, but he wasn't fighting. The two trainers were too focused on the fielding that they were being watched up there. Bits of purple and grey light seemed to rotate occasionally into existence, then disappear out again. They felt small shivers in their spine. It felt like they were sat inside a deceased crowd. It grew and atmosphere. Not an atmosphere of fear, but something more along the lines of… tension. It felt like whatever was with them was excited to see the battle that was about to take place, like a ghostly roman audience about to watch a colloseum gladiator battle. The place had this ominous feeling of being haunted, which, considering the pokémon type the gym leader used, it probably was. Morty reached to his belt, unclipped a pokeball and held it in his hand. Then, with a swift slick movement, he threw it through the air and towards the battlefield.

"Go, Gastly!" He called quietly. A small ball of rotating gas appeared onto the field, a fanged mouth face poking out in front of it and smiling widely. And the battle began. Morty made the first command. "Gastly, use night shade!" He called. Gastly floated a little closer to Ralph, then stopped again. He clenched his eyes shut and sent a long shadow of shadows reaching out towards its opponent.

"Dodge." Joe called. Ralph flapped his large wings and shut upwards, reaching another six feet above the ground. The shadow attack passed under him, doing nothing as it bloomed for a second then faded away. If he hadn't dodge the attack would have hit him from bellow. Now it was his turn to attack. "Ralph, use steel wing." Joe called. Ralph dived towards the small ball of gas, his wings outstretched and glistening metallically. He dove right through Gastly, his wing passing through its hazy body like a hot knife through butter. Gastly exclaimed in pain as the attack did its damage. But it stayed standing, seemingly resisting the attack enough. Ralph flew on, turned around in mid-air and saw that his opponent was still floating and looking at him again.

"Nice try." Morty muttered quietly. He pointed a hidden finger. "Gastly, use lick!" The ghostly ball floated up to Ralph, its flopping purple tongue hanging out from its mouth. Ralph backed up in disgust.

"Hit it back!" Joe called. Ralph lashed out, striking the ghost with his wing and knocking it backwards like a pinball. The Gastly looked dazed, its face rolling over its body like the images of a slot machine, as it tried to stay put and recover itself. "Now finish it!" Joe called. Ralph flew up to the Gastly, opened his mouth and bit it hard on the side. Gastly popped, evaporating into a cloud of faceless gas. The first fight was done, now Joe just had to take down the rest of them. Morty withdrew what was left of Gastly and smiled a little on his grim white face.

"Well done." He complemented silently. "Taken out my Gastly in under a minute. That's pretty good." He reached for another pokeball, gripping it in his hand. "But that's just my weakest pokémon. How well can you really do?" He threw the pokeball. "Go, Misdreavus!" He called. The pokeball landed and released a new looking pokémon. This one was mostly a head, but an effeminate looking head with curved back spines that looked and acted like hair that fluttered behind it, a rippling ghostly frill skirt underneath and a skin fused necklace of red glowing pearls, the biggest one at the very middle of the line of five. It opened its eyes, revealing two half-moon glowing yellow eyes, with big red irises, and a small smile appeared on its tiny mouth. Morty was pointing a finger again. "Misdreavus, use psywave!" The floating pokémon pulled its head back slightly, shut its eyes and created a weird shaking wave line of pink energy. The mean outstretched slowly, waving about like a late tide.

"Ralph, look out." Joe called. Ralph flew aside, avoiding the slow beam as it passed by him unscathed. Misdreavus seemed disappointed by its attack missing, but it didn't give up. It tried again. "Use Cross Poison!" Joe called. Ralph flew at the floating ghost child, his front wings pulled back and glowing purple.

"Confuse Ray." Morty called. Misdreavus fired a small ball of pink/purple/grey light from its mouth and sent it floating up towards the arriving crobat. The small ball hit Ralph in the face as he got closer, popping like a bubble. And Ralph's vision became a blurry double in seconds. The ray had done its job, except not in the way it was supposed to. Ralph had flown head first into it, so the effect was instant for him. He lost sight of Misdreavus as it split into five different blurred images and tilted on a sharp Dutch angle. Ralph dove into the floor, unable to tell where it was. He slid across the ground and ended up just at the tip of Misdreavus' flailing ghostly skirt. The small ghost chuckled a little as it watched its bigger and stronger opponent lie dazed at its… well, it's not feet. Joe clenched his fists with tension and winced.

Hit it, Ralph!" He called. "You're at its feet! Hit up!" Ralph grunted, pulled his wing out from underneath him, remained looking at the floor and struck upwards. The wing tip smacked Misdreavus, who hadn't been concentrating, in the face, knocking it backwards with a dazed expression. "Well done." Joe congratulated. "Now again. Get it while it's surprised." Ralph tried to push himself up. The world was still spinning, lacking colour and split into several images. He could hardly tell where he was or what he was seeing. He also struggled to understand what he was hearing. He had heard Joe's command, but to him it sounded like 'Lewl douon. Uoaou aaaiiin. Ge t whaah ees sruuuupreeez.' He could just about understand what he'd said. Ralph pushed himself onto his wing tips, looking dazedly up at the levitating Misdreavus and tried to pull himself forwards. He moved slowly, still wobbling and shaking as his confusion lingered. The world was starting to get a little more stationary now. There were only three split images in his eyes now, and the third one was fading into the second. He crawled towards Misdreavus and, when he was close enough, he jumped at it, teeth bared. He bit down on the ghosts skirt like body, causing punctured in the ethereal shell. Misdreavus wailed in pain, having a surprisingly effeminate voice for a male pokémon.

"No!" Morty exclaimed. Misdreavus' scream fell to a quiet defeated groan, and when Ralph let go it fell back, closing its eyes, floating like a drifting leaf on the air to the floor, which it half fell through. Morty looked more disappointed this time. He had just lost two pokémon and hadn't beaten one of Joe's pokémon yet. But that could all still change. He still had two strong pokémon on his team, and they wanted to come out. Morty withdrew Misdreavus from the battlefield, thanking it for its effort in the battle and wishing it a good rest. He then reached for a third pokeball. "You really are a strong trainer." Morty told Joe admiringly. Joe smiled his gratitude back.

"I certainly hope so." Joe joked back. Morty smiled, but not at his attempt at humour. He was smiling self-thoughtfully, with the idea that the trainer had no idea what he was getting into. He gripped his third pokeball in his hand.

"Go, Haunter!" He called, throwing the pokeball out onto the battlefield. The ball snapped open and released a floating ghostly creature with clawed armless hands and a grinning evil expression on its ghastly face. The gym leader's Haunter clenched its three fingered hands and stared maliciously at the kneeling crobat opponent. Ralph's vision was almost back to normal now. All he had to do was figure out how to get this small blot of blur from his vision. It was causing him to have to move his head about to look past it, only to realise that it was following him. Ralph slowly pushed himself up and jumped into the air, flapping slowly and keeping himself in the air again.

"Alright." Joe called in encouragement. "You can do it, Ralph. Let's win this battle." Morty hardly reacted to this encouragement. Instead he had Haunter pull of his first move.

"Curse it." He called. Ralph never saw the attack coming, mainly because it had been invisible. Ralph felt his skin shiver and his muscles seize up a little. He kept in the air, but he couldn't help but feel an unending air of doom over him.

"Fly!" Joe called, instructing an attack. Ralph shot up high into the air, overlooking the battlefield. Then he dived down again, aimed like a purple poisoned arrow at the stationary ghost type. Suddenly he felt his body ache. His muscles seemed to seize up a little. He felt his heart burning, his brain sweating, his whole body shutting down. He dove, unable to keep himself in the air. Joe watched in horror as his friend fell helplessly from the air in clear trouble. "Ralph!" He called with concern. Winter and Silver held their breath from where they sat. Ralph reached the ground and, just in time, turned upwards, flying over the floor, his belly skimming it slightly. He kept going long enough to reach Haunter, able to hit it with his attack. But, unfortunately, he missed, as Haunter stepped aside, allowing Ralph to skid past him, face on the ground.

"Shadow Punch!" Morty called. Haunter popped over to Ralph's side, pulled a shadow enveloped fist back, and struck him on the back of the head, causing Ralph to headbutt the floor. He groaned in pain and rolled over, swinging a wing at the attacking ghost. He hit Haunter on the side and knocked it aside. The ghost shot back, away from the swinging Crobat who was getting back up it the air. "Again!" Morty called. Just as Ralph got properly back into the air, Haunter punched him again, this time in the face. Ralph recoiled backwards, rubbing his unseen nose with his wingtip. Haunter was cackling now, enjoying the pain it was causing to its opponent.

"Fight back, Ralph." Joe called encouragingly. "Strike it with cross poison!" Ralph flew at Haunter, his wings glowing purple in an X shape. Haunted stared back, waiting patiently for the attack to reach it. Ralph arrived and received a strong, built up punch to the face, knocking him back and causing his attack to fail. Haunter laughed. Now he was just toying with the pokémon. Ralph hardly had any strength left to fight back. He was out of energy. He had taken too much damage and the curse was sapping all his strength. Joe had no choice but to call him back. He couldn't keep going like this. "Ralph, come back." He called. Ralph groaned, knowing what that meant. It meant Joe had decided he couldn't fight any longer. He reluctantly crawled his way back to Joe's side, using his wings to drag himself across the ground. He reached his trainer's side and slumped onto the floor, lying with his wings around his belly and his face in the floor. He groaned pathetically. Joe patted his head with respect. "You did well, bud." He told him. "You took out two of his pokémon for me." Ralph made a muttered comment which, if Joe could understand him, would have gone something like 'Yeah, but they were his weakest pokémon.' Joe turned back to the battlefield. On the score board at the side of the field the information had been changed. The points so far were reading 3:2 to Joe. The three was how many pokémon he had left for the fight. Morty only had two now. Maybe he could still win with the three he had left. Morty bowed his head in respect to Joe.

"Your crobat fights well." He told him. "I look forward to seeing what your other pokémon are capable of." Joe found himself smiling a little, even though he suspected that it wasn't really a complement. He reached for a pokeball and unclipped it. He knew who he wanted to send out for this fight. He readied the pokeball and threw it.

"Come on out, Mar!" He called. The second he said the name he realised that he'd made a mistake. The pokeball opened and released a pokémon that was not an azumarill. It wasn't anything close. Cutter looked at Joe, confused by who the boy was and where he was, what he was doing there and why he was in the middle of a stadium battleground. Joe's expression fell sadly. "Oh." He murmured. "That's right. I traded Mar." He reminded himself of the event earlier that day. He had been so absorbed into the fight that he'd forgotten it all. He looked at winter and saw that she was also looking a little concerned, with a wincing expression on her face as she'd picked up his mistake before he had. Cutter looked at Joe impatiently, waiting for him to make a command. The arrogant and aggressive scyther even began tapping his foot after a while. Joe shook his head, reminding himself that the past was the past and he wasn't going backwards. He could only go forwards. And in front of him was a gym leader and a battle. He wasn't going to be interrupted from it. "Right." He said to himself. Then he pointed a finger out. "Cutter, use slash!" He called. Cutter huffed, scrapped his claws together with excitement and charged in to attack, his scythes pulled back. He slashed them down into the ghost pokémon, only to find that he'd lunged straight through it. Haunter chuckled and held out his tongue. This enraged Cutter and he jumped in again, trying to slash the ghost. Again, he simply passed through it. Morty chuckled a little to himself.

"Your scyther clearly hasn't learned about ghost types yet." He muttered. Joe groaned as he watched Cutter continue to slash at thin air, that being the air that made up Haunter's body.

"Cutter, stop!" Joe called. Cutter stopped, looking annoyed but following his commands. Haunter took a few seconds to back up, allowing more space between the two pokémon.

"Haunter, use shadow ball!" Morty commanded. Haunter formed a large ball of ghostly energy in its hands and primed it, throwing it at the not concentrating scyther opponent.

"Cutter, use pursuit!" Joe called. Cutter grunted understandingly. He turned around and received a shadow ball to the face. Haunter cackled as the expression on the mantis pokémon changed into a furious glare. Cutter was really angry at this thing now. He couldn't hit it, it bullied him with annoying taunting laughter. He was going to find a way to slice it up into millions of pieces, even if it took his forever. Cutter charged, claws ready to strike. "No! I said pursuit! Use pursuit!" Joe cried as he watched Cutter again and again try to slash through the ghost time, to no avail. Each time he failed he only got more and more angry, his internal fury growing to a wrathful level. Morty shook his head disappointedly.

"Your scyther is out of control." He told Joe. "You might want a nurse or a professor to look at him. See if they can calm him down a little." Cutter glared at the gym leader disrespectfully, hearing every word he had said about him and taking it as an insult. Slowly he backed up and turned away from his opponent ghost time, still glaring at the gym leader who was looking back judgmentally. Then, the action Cutter took next astounded everyone in the room. He lunged at Morty.

Scythaaa!" He cried in a high pitch screeching voice.

"Cutter, NO! Joe shouted, reaching out in a futile attempt to stop him. He watched his new pokémon run across the stadium with surprising speed, jump and swing its claws back. Morty backed up, but not quickly enough. Cutter landed on him, pinning him to the ground and glaring at the gym leader with beady hate filled eyes. His scythe arms pinned through Morty's clothing, sticking him to the ground. The gym leader squirmed under him, but Cutter did not move away. Joe ran after him, Ralph following closely. The two of them grabbed Cutter and tried to pull him of, but the enraged scyther was refusing to move. "Get of him, Cutter!" Joe shouted, grunting as he pulled against his pokémon's right arm. Still Cutter was refusing to move. He was screeching in Morty's face. Haunter was helping out now, trying to grab Cutter's head and pull it back. The large mantis pokémon complained and lashed out.

"Youch!" Joe exclaimed as Cutter's scythe struck him in the chin. He stumbled backwards, a small cut across the left side of his lower jaw. He placed a hand on it. A warm trickle of blood escaped from the slicing. His own pokémon had attacked him. He looked back at Cutter as he was finally pulled of the gym leader, Ralph's wings around his waist and Haunter's hands around his head. Joe pulled out Cutter's great ball. "Okay, come back!" He instructed, pressing the great ball against cutter's chest.

"Scyth…" The large mantis struggled and complained in Ralph and Haunter's grip as the ball touched his skin and he disappeared again in a flash of red. Ralph and Haunter fell to the ground, thankful that that situation was over. Morty pushed himself back up onto his feet. Joe immediately ran to his side.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry about that! I… I didn't know he was going to do that." Morty waved a hand dismissively.

"I'm fine." He told him. He just cut my clothing a little. Then he noticed Joe's bleeding chin. "What about you?" He asked. Joe followed his gaze.

"It's just a cut." He told him. "Nothing serious."

"Joe!" Winter called. Joe turned to see his two friends had left the stands and were running towards him. "Are you okay?" She asked, pulling Joe's hand away from his chin and looking at his cut. She winced with an angry expression. "That vicious bastard!" She exclaimed. "If I had known he was like that I wouldn't have traded him with you. I'd have thrown him away." Joe looked at her, grateful for her concern but wishing she wasn't being so mothering.

"I'm fine." He told her.

"But you might not have been." She told him. "Imagine what he might have done if he'd come after you instead."

"Thanks, mom." Joe said sarcastically. Winter blushed a little and she fell silent. Silver said nothing, simply looking at the aftermath of the attack, Ralph and Haunter lying rather exhausted on the floor. Then simultaneously the trio looked at Morty, who was holding his shoulder painfully.

"At least it wasn't anything serious." Silver muttered. Morty shrugged of the pain.

"It could have been worse." He said. "Thank you for helping get it of me. But I must ask that you do not release that pokémon ever again. He's too violent and aggressive to be around humans." Joe sighed. He had hoped that wouldn't be an option, but it didn't seem like there was any other choice. When a dog became too violent it had to be put down. So when a pokémon gets to violent it has to be released into the wild, away from people.

"Alright." Joe said sadly. He didn't want to do it, but he knew he had to. "I'll go and release him."

"That can wait for a while." Morty told him quickly. "He is safely in his pokeball, so for now he is no threat. So, if you please, may we finish our battle and get that out of the way first. It was beginning to get interesting." Joe smiled again. He may have lost one of his pokémon by default, but he was still willing to fight back. Besides, Haunter must be tired out after restraining cutter like that. That would give him a small advantage.

"Sure." He agreed.

Both trainers made their way back to their podiums, taking up their places and preparing to continue again. Winter and Silver went back to the stands and watched patiently and excitedly. Haunter was still out on Morty's side. Apparently he wasn't tired enough to give up just yet. So now Joe had to choose his third pokémon. He didn't know who to pick. He heard a small happy giggle from behind him, and he pulled of his bag. Casey was looking at him excitedly through the open zip, punching his small hands at the air. He seemed to want to fight. Joe wasn't sure if he was ready to do so. The pokémon was still a baby after all. But Casey seemed defiant to allow no as an answer. Joe sighed and smiled at his egg pokémon.

"You want to fight?" He asked. Casey nodded vigorously. Joe smiled at him. "Okay then. Let's give it a try." He opened the bag properly and lifted Casey out, placing him on the floor in front of him. "My togepi would like to try battling." He told Morty. The gym leader seemed surprised. His opponent was sending out a baby pokémon to battle. In many respects this was like sending out a mouse to fight a lion, or a heavily armoured knight to fight a dragon. It wasn't going to end well for the mouse. But he agreed, deciding to himself that, because it was a baby, he would go easy on it, not using his full force to take it out instantly. Morty nodded in agreement.

"Alright." He said. "He may fight if he wants." Joe smiled at the gym leader. Gently he prodded the young baby pokémon forwards onto the field.

"Go on." He told him. "It's okay. I'll guide you along. Just pay attention to your opponent and look out for any attacks coming at you." Casey looked a little nervous but he waddled out slowly onto the field, preparing to do some serious damage. The small baby made tiny steps slowly to the centre of his side of the field. It took him a few minutes to get there. When he finally did, he prepared himself into a perceived battle stance. Haunter had to hold back a small chuckle. Joe prepared to make the commands. He took a second to consider what moves Casey knew, then starter making his commands. "Alright Casey. Time to see what moves you've got." He called. "Let's try growl." Casey looked confused. He had no idea how to growl, but he gave it a try. He began to let of a deep sounding mew, squinting his eyes in an attempted intimidating glare. Haunter watched the cute little egg try and look intimidating, making a weak growl from his small mouth. Haunter couldn't hold it in. it burst out laughing. It laughed and laughed in an unbounding guffaw. Casey felt a little damp hearted. "Don't let it distract you." Joe called to his pokémon. "Teach it a lesson. Use an attack." Casey tried to think of what he could do that would hurt his opponent but nothing came to mind. Subconsciously he began swing a finger back and forth like the point of a metronome. And suddenly a move came to his mind. He turned to face the cackling ghost pokémon, focused all his energy and fired.

Everyone in the room was surprised to see a small ball of pink psychic energy shoot out from Casey's head as he shut his eyes and concentrated. No one had been expecting it at all. The psychic attack struck Haunter and caused it to recoil in surprise, flinching with surprising pain. The ghost looked at the baby egg pokémon which was cheering and smiling happily. A small growl emanated from its ethereal mouth.

"Okay." Morty muttered, also rather surprised.

"What to go, Casey!" Joe cheered. Casey smile back happily at the human who cared for him, feeling proud of himself and happy that his parent was also proud and happy for him. Morty decided that it was time to get more aggressive.

"Haunter, use shadow ball." He called. Haunter obliged with pleasure. It formed a ball of ghostly energy and fired it at Casey.

"Look out!" Joe cried. Casey turned back too late. The ghostly ball struck his whole body. But, to everyone's continuing surprise, the ball passed straight through him, doing nothing at all to hurt him. Casey looked confused, whereas Haunter and Morty looked annoyed.

"What?" He exclaimed. "Togepi is a normal type?" He asked himself, suddenly realising the mistake his pokémon hade made in battling it. Joe smiled eagerly to himself. Now he had a strong advantage over his opponent.

"Casey, try another move again." He called. Casey thought hard about what move he could do. Again he found that his finger was waging slowly side to side as he subconsciously thought. Then he found an attack, and used it. Casey's cheeks puffed up with air, and when he breathed out he released a flamethrower. The whole room backed up a little as the tiny baby egg began breathing out tone after tone of fire across the room. Haunter could do little to avoid it. The flames scolded its ghostly skin. Joe cheered. He had not been expecting Casey to be doing so well for himself in this fight, but he was. That metronome move he had was doing amazingly. He seemed to come up with a random unlearnable move every time he waggled his finger in concentration. Think of the kind of damage he could do if he kept coming up with moves like this.

"Again." Morty called. Haunter fired another shadow ball, but again it passed straight through Casey without harming him.

"Metronome!" Joe shouted, feeling rather excited that his baby pokémon could actually do something in this fight. Casey waggled his finger again. Then he ran in towards Haunter and attempted to tackle him. What Casey hadn't realised however is that a normal attack like tackle would simply pass straight through Haunter, so when it did he fell forwards onto his face. The small baby egg pokémon whimpered a little with the surprise, coming close to the verge of crying. "It's okay, Casey." Joe called, trying to calm his pokémon down. "Just get back up and come back over here." He instructed. Casey did as he was told, standing up and tilting on his tiny feet and slowly stumbling back across the field, his heavy shell wobbling him of balance. When he finally did get back to his side of the field he wiped his puffy eyes and readied to continue fighting. Now it was Morty's turn to attack.

"Shadow Punch!" Morty commanded. Haunter vanished into shadow, then reappeared to Casey's side, a clenched claw thrusting into his back. But again it passed straight through him. Casey looked at the ghostly hand sticking out harmlessly through his body and he giggled adorably.

"Attack it back!" Joe called. Casey turned and saw the confused and relatively annoyed haunter floating behind him. He smiled a little to himself. Then he jumped up and kissed the ghost on the cheek. Haunter immediately froze, not too sure on what had just happened. Then its eyes crossed. Casey laughed aloud as he watched the opponent haunter stumble around, its vision split and its senses baffled by the confusion attack. Joe was also smiling. He hadn't expected Casey to be doing this well. He pointed a finger at the opponent pokémon. "Now finish it while you can." Joe called. Casey used metronome again. Within seconds he had thought of a move. He placed his legs into a stable stationary holding position and arched his back forwards, aiming his head towards the opponent. And then he fired a hydro pump. The huge torrent of water was so powerful it even pushed Casey backwards with its force, though he was only a weak baby. Haunter managed to focus on the blue colours in front of it quickly enough to realise what was happening. But by then it was already too late. It took the hydro pump full on in the face. When the water faded Haunter could be found smashed against the far wall, drooping down it with water running of its ghostly skin. Morty withdrew his pokémon.

"Only one left now." He muttered to himself, clipping Haunter's pokeball back to his belt. Joe hugged Casey proudly.

"Well done, buddy." He said happily. "Good job." Morty reached for another pokeball.

"Don't get too excited just yet." He said casually, with a small tone of conscious insidiousness. "I still have a pokémon left." He released the pokeball. From it a red beam of light was let out and touched the floor, creating a Gengar in its place. The fat bodied ghost cackled and stuck its tongue out at Casey and Joe as it spotted them.

Joe looked at Casey in his arms and smiled. "You want to keep fighting?" Joe asked. Casey nodded eagerly, so Joe placed him back onto the field, allowing Casey to prepare to fight again. There was no pause between the wait and the battle. Morty instantly made a command.

"Hypnosis." He called. Gengar's eyes began to glow pinkie-purple. Casey rocked on his feet, watching the enemy Gengar closely. Then he fell onto his back, rocky unconsciously as he began to snore. Joe was a little white faced.

"Oh." He said simply. Morty had no choice but to smile at that response. Now it was just down to one Vs one. The stakes were tied, and the chance for either trainer to win was great. Joe picked up Casey again and placed him to bed back inside his bag. "Well done, buddy." He said kindly to the snoozing togepi. Casey smiled a little, his lip wobbling. Joe placed the bag by his feet and let Casey sleep for now. He had to keep fighting still, just using a different pokémon. Joe unclipped his next pokeball and prepared it. He threw the ball, releasing it onto the field. "Go, Quill." He yelled, releasing the fiery cyndaquil onto the field. Quill took up immediate preparation to fight. Gengar glared him down, spotting areas and ways it could strike Quill and take him out easily. Then Morty made the command.

"Gengar, use shadow ball!" He called. Gengar formed a large ball of ghost energy.

"Quill, burst it!" Joe counter called. Quill fired a small flame at Gengar, aiming for the shadow ball in its hands. Gengar released the ball, which moved slowly but only just a little slower than the ember. The two attacks collided almost half way down the battlefield, and exploded together, sending out a long aftershock. Gengar was knocked off its feet and onto its back. Quill's spinal flames were extinguished as he was pushed into the ground by the force of the explosion.

"Shadow punch!" Morty called. Quill had barely stood up before he was struck in the side again by Gengar's faded fist.

"Strike it back!" Joe called. Quill spun around and lashed out, trying to scratch Gengar across the face. Its claw went through the ghosts face, doing absolutely nothing. The ghost stuck its tongue out at him, then faded away, reappearing several metres back. Morty was taking full command of the power he had available to him now. Gengar was fast. Gengar was strong. Gengar was agile. A pokémon like that could cause all sorts of trouble for an opponent. However it would have its disadvantages. A pokémon like that must suffer from a weakness, every living thing has a weakness. Joe felt if he could land an attack on it then he'd be able to see just how tough this pokémon was. Ghost types didn't tend to have great defences, so that might be his advantage. "Quill, wait for it to get close enough, then burn it!" He called. Quill nodded and began his wait. Morty made his own command now.

"Shadow punch!" He called again. Gengar vanished into smoke and shadow. Still Quill waited. Gengar reappeared inches away from his face. Quill attacked. The small flame hit Gengar in the face, knocking its attack away and causing the ghost to stumble.

"Now, hit it hard!" Joe cried. Quill erupted in fire and charged, ramming Gengar it the chest, his physical attack hitting the ghost type as his fiery aura burned and singed it. Gengar yelled in pain and stumbled back, looking angry at him.

"Shadow ball!" Morty called. Gengar jumped a few steps back and prepared another ghostly sphere of energy.

"Shot fire at the attack!" Joe instructed. Quill spat an ember at the preparing shadow ball. The attack exploded in Gengar's hands, causing it to fly backwards across the field. It landed painfully on its back halfway across the battleground, grumbling achingly. "Now, hit it while it's down!" Joe called. Quill's spinal flames burst with light and heat. The fire spread over his back and engulfed his entire body. The last thing Joe saw of his pokémon before the fire became a towering wall was Quill curling up into a rotating ball. The spinning ball of fire spun on the spot, then lunged forwards, rolling across the field like an escaping comet through earth's atmosphere. Gengar had hardly stood back up when it saw the fiery ball shooting towards it. It could only look on in terror as the opponent pokémon spun towards it and struck it completely. Gengar was crushed under the burning fire. And when it faded from Quill's hide Joe realised he was looking at a new pokémon. Like Mar, Quill had somehow evolved while using his move. He was no longer the small and timid looking cyndaquil. Now he was at least twice the size, looking more like a weasel then a mole, with a longer body, open eyes, longer legs and more fire. He had a flaming Mohawk on the top of his head now, which only made him look more teenage, and his tail was an explosive line of blazing light at the end of his body. The newly evolved quilava turned back to the exhausted Gengar, seeing the singe marks across its face and body. Gengar coughed weakly, then fell back, its head thumping the floor. That was game over. Joe had won. Morty looked disappointed, but, unlike Whitney, he didn't burst out into tears, although he looked like he might do. Instead he bowed humbly and stepped from his podium, withdrawing Gengar as he did so.

"Well done." He said simply, looking at Joe the whole time. Joe was busy congratulating his own pokémon. He hugged Quill, who was nuzzling his face warmly. Joe had to hold his head back a bit as his flame fur nearly singes his hair as he did so.

"Great job, Quill." He said, hugging his pokémon. "You did great. I didn't expect you to evolve so quickly, either." Quill smiled embarrassedly and shrugged at him, almost comically. Joe patted his head, avoiding the fire. "You did good." He smiled. Ralph huffed. Joe looked at him. "Don't worry, you did good to." He added, laughing a little as his friend continued to sulk. He noticed Morty had walked over to him, standing a few feet away.

"You have beaten me." He said simply. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gym badge. "So I believe you have earned this." Joe took the gym badge from Morty's hand and looked at it in his own. It looked like a dark blue speech bubble, with a silver outline of metal and two long and thin white ovals in it. It looked almost like a ghostly face. "That is the fog badge." Morty explained. "Take is as proof you have beaten me. You deserve it after all." Joe looked at the gym leader and nodded.

"Thank you." He said.

"Thank you for challenging me." Morty said back. Joe proceeded to walk out of the gym, withdrawing Quill, picking up his bag and leading Ralph out with him.

* * *

Winter and Silver were already waiting for him outside. They smiled and cheered a little for him as he walked through the sliding glass doors. The day had moved on to dusk now. The purple haze horizon was lowering with a final line of yellow bellow its melancholy colouring. The air grew colder now, the warm sun leaving a frozen wake behind it. Autumn had properly arrived now. Joe smiled back at his friends, Ralph at his side like the faithful companion he was.

"Another successful victory." Winter said, acting like the coach for a wrestling champion. "As usual. Is there anything that you can't do?" Joe blushed a little with the ridiculous comment.

"I think that's pushing it a little." He told her.

"Guess you're not so bad after all." Silver told him, seeming himself a little impressed. "And that's bad as in bad at everything, not bad as in evil." He added, realising that bad meant several things. Joe was speechless. This was Silver complementing him. He never thought it was possible, but it looked like today a miracle had happened. The redhead, ignorant, irritant of a boy was actually saying something nice and note spitefully hate filled. Impossible, but it had happened. Joe felt a small smile creep across his face.

"Thank you." He said, warmly grateful. Silver tried to hide his face from them, but it was clear that he was smiling a little too.

"We should go." Winter decided quickly, rubbing her arms as the cold air began to make the veins thin. "It's getting chilly, and I don't really want to catch a cold."

"You guys go on ahead." Joe told them. He unclipped the blue and white great ball from his belt. "There's something I have to do first." Winter looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry about this." She told him. "If I had known he was like that I never would have given him to you. I would have released him immediately. I never would have traded him to you."

"You didn't know." He told her, understanding her apology completely. "You didn't know he would do something like that. I didn't know. If I did, I wouldn't have used him." He looked sadly at his friends. "I won't take long." He told them. Winter nodded in understanding, and she hurriedly ushered Silver away. They headed to the pokémon centre to set up a place to sleep for the arriving night. Joe waited for them to leave. Once they had he headed quickly to route 36, the route south that they had travelled up to reach the quiet melancholy city. Ralph stayed at his side, deciding that he'd need a friend close for what he was about to do.

They made the walk down the path short. Joe didn't want to be gone long. He was tired and likely not to sleep tonight. One of the most horrifying things any trainer could experience is seeing their own pokémon turn on someone like Cutter had. Joe had been lucky, in respects, that Cutter wasn't one of his oldest pokémon and that he was a new member of his team. He had hardly been with him for a day. In that respect it meant that Joe wouldn't feel as bad about having to kick him out, but it still felt wrong. Once they were far enough from the city he stopped. Joe looked into the woods around him, feeling air of loneliness around it all, especially in the arising darkness. Ralph patted him comfortingly on the back, knowing Joe wasn't going to find this easy. Joe smiled at his best friend.

"May as well get this over with." He muttered. Weakly he opened the pokémon out, releasing Cutter from his holding cell. The aggressive scyther turned to Joe, looking at him with menacing eyes, seemingly checking him out like a predator studies its prey. He looked aggravated, almost like he was ready to attack anything within seconds. Joe held the open great ball in his hands, gripping one open half in each palm. He took a deep breath. "Cutter… I want you to get out of here." He said simply. The scyther looked at his trainer confused. He had no idea what this human was telling him, but it didn't sound good. He tilted his head, trying to understand. Joe clenched his teeth, seeing that the pokémon didn't understand him. "Go!" He shouted, maybe a little too harshly. But he was already feeling pain in his heart. He didn't want to kick any pokémon away, but Cutter was too dangerous to keep around. "Get out of here! I release you back into the wild!" Joe's fingers gripped the pokeball harder. Then, with a metallic cracking sound, he snapped the ball in half, breaking it forever. The two pieces dropped to the ground out of the trembling trainers hands. Cutter was stunned. This human had just thrown him away, as if he was nothing. To him this was the worst insult a caught pokémon could ever be told. Cutter found a growl emanating from his insect mouth. Ralph knew exactly what was about to happen.

"SCYTHAAA!" Cutter yelled, jumping at Joe with sharp claws raised to slice him in half. He didn't even make it half way. Ralph's wing struck Cutter in the stomach, knocking the air from his lungs and causing him to fall winded to the floor. Joe looked at the pathetic pokémon in front of him. He felt awful, like some kind of biblical monster ushering away the wearer then him. But he had no choice. He had already made his decision.

"Just go, Cutter." He muttered stoically. "Don't try and follow me." He turned away, proceeding to walk up the road, fighting the urge to look back. Ralph followed him, keeping his eyes on Cutter to make sure he didn't try and attack them from behind. But he didn't. Cutter sat there, his left arm against his stomach which was aching with impact pain, his head looking up furiously at the leaving trainer.

The mantis pokémon yelled after his previous owner angrily, trying to antagonise him. Translated, the pokémon was shouting something like 'Hey! Where do you think you're going?!'. Joe ignored him. Cutter kept yelling 'Hey! Get back here! GET BACK HERE!' Finally he gave up, lowering his head and sulking pathetically. Joe never came back for him. The scyther sat alone on the road and cried in self-pity

And, as if timing was an applicable product, three forms walked out from the trees, having seen none of what just happened, but happening to hear the pokémon shouting from a little away. Team Ace quickly spotted the teary eyed scyther sitting weeping on the road.

"What is it doing?" Ruby asked, looking puzzled, uncertain, cautious, but most of all surprised.

"It's… crying?" Frank muttered.

"Can pokémon do that?" Ross asked stupidly. Frank looked at him offended.

"Of course we can. What do you think we are, animals?" He muttered, glaring at the boy with disapproval.

"Well why is it crying?" Ross wandered, ignoring Franks disapproving glare.

"I dunno." Ruby muttered. "We should send someone to ask it." Both pairs of eyes looked down at Frank. The ditto groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm going." He muttered, slugging himself forward towards the saddened praying mantis. He moved around the front of it, expecting at any second to be jumped by it, so he moved slowly and cautiously. He looked at the saddened scyther, seeing the true tears in its eyes. "Hey, buddy." Frank said in a friendly but also rather dopy manner. The scyther turned its head away from the sentient blob in front of it. "What's wrong?" The scyther gave a depressed grunt in poke speech. Frank nodded in understanding. "You were abandoned by your trainer?" He repeated. The scyther nodded and began speaking more, warming up a little to Frank's presence. "Really?" He asked. "That's not very fare. I mean you were angry. So what if the trainer was a gym leader?" The scyther huffed. Then in began crying again and moping. "Hey, don't cry." Frank told him, wiping his eyes with a flat fleshy hand. "You didn't need him. He probably wasn't a very good trainer anyway." The scyther pushed him away.

"What did it tell you, Frank?" Ruby asked as their gelatinous friend returned to them.

"It said that it belonged to a human, but that human just released his for attacking a gym leader." He explained.

"That doesn't sound very fare." Ruby muttered to herself. "He deserves more respect than that." Ross looked at her.

"Ruby, he attacked a person, and a gym leader no less." He told her. "What would you do if that happened with one of our pokémon?"

"I'd give them a second chance." She old him stubbornly. "Did it say anything else?" She pressed frank for more information. Frank shrugged.

"Not really. He said his name was Cutter but apart from that he doesn't know what to do or where to go.

"Really?" Ruby tapped her fingers together surreptitiously. "If that's the case I say we welcome young Cutter over there into our group with open arms." She told her team mates.

"Oh, I get to catch him!" Ross insisted like a small child. "I haven't caught a new pokémon in a while!" Ruby glared at him.

"No. I get to catch him because he needs someone to care for him. And I'm the mother figure of this group. You expect Frank to do that job?" She asked.

"Hey!" Frank complained. "Just because I'm asexual does not mean you can make fun of me!" They ignored him.

"Come on, Ruby!" Ross was complaining, still sounding like a nagging child pestering his mother for a power ranger toy. "Please let me catch him. You have three good pokémon! I only have two, and one of them's on the blink!" No one understood what he meant by that. "Please!" He whined, extending each letter by double its length. Ruby finally gave up.

"Alright!" She groaned, her face covered with purest annoyance. "You can catch it." Ross pumped his hand with glee.

"Yes!" He exclaimed. He dug into his bag and pulled out an empty pokeball. "Alright, Cutter." He whispered, walking slowly up on the still sad scyther. "Just stay there and Uncle Ross will make it all better.

From the distance a small flash of red light could be seen and the sound of a pokeball snapping open then shut echoed around the woods.

* * *

Joe walked into the poke centre, rubbing his face with exhaustion. He was about read to go to bed now. But sadly he wouldn't get the chance to fall onto a bed just yet. As he walked in a nurse spotted him and called him to the counter.

"Hey, excuse me." She called, waiving a agitated hand. Joe stumbled over to her, Ralph following like a lamb. "Are you by any chance Joseph Glende?" She asked. Joe nodded sleepily.

"I am." He told her. The nurse nodded back.

"A young man was just on the line. He wanted to talk to you about something. He said he was a close friend of yours." Joe sighed with exhaustion.

"Alright." He said.

"He's on line 3. Just at the PC over there." The nurse pointed to the single standing multipurpose machine in the corner. Joe nodded his thanks.

"Thank you." He muttered, stifling a yawn.

"You're welcome." The nurse called after him.

Joe stumbled over to the white machine, switched it on and logged in. Sure enough someone was trying to contact him. He switched on the phone system. A face popped into view on the screen. It was an eager young face that Joe recognised instantly. The boy on the other side smiled widely.

"How're ya doing, me old mucker?" He exclaimed in a happy-go-lucky tone. Joe sighed, a small happy smile fading across his own face.

"Hi, Tom." He said back.


	16. Chapter 16: Blitz in Burned Tower

"So it's been going well in Johto then? Tom asked, taking in everything Joe had told them about what he'd experienced and done during his time in the new region. "Sounds fun."

"I hope that's sarcasm." Joe told him. Tom frowned.

"So you aren't enjoying it?" He asked.

"Well, sort of." Joe said. He was trying to be honest while talking to his friend. "Like I told you there's been some good moments. Both me and Winter have caught some new pokémon, and we've been able to spend more time together, which is also nice." Tom nodded understanding, winking his eyes.

"Oh, I see." He said knowingly. "You're moving in for the kill." Joe looked at him disgusted.

"No." He told him. "No. It's nothing like that. We're just friends." Tom wasn't buying it.

"Uh huh." He said, nodding his head but not looking like he believed it. "You keep telling yourself that. One day it may come true."

"Could we get back to what I was saying?" Joe asked, irritated by his friends annoying pestering. "But there's this other trainer we're traveling with. He's kind of a pest… well really a pest. He keeps complaining and annoying us, constantly trying to wind me up especially. But… I dunno. He seems to have suddenly become… nice. I don't know what to make of that."

"Some people are like that." Tom told him. "They seem like assholes at first, then they warm up to you and suddenly they're your best friend. It totally happens." Joe shrugged. He assumed what his friend was saying was true, but he didn't want to believe that Silver could ever become his friend, let alone a best friend. He dreaded to imagine that that was a possibility.

"And as well as that, there's Team Ace. They're still around. Fortunately we haven't seen them much, only once or twice here and there." Tom laughed a little.

"They get everywhere, don't they." He smiled jovially. "They're a bit like cockroaches. I imagine that Frank probably is one, too." Joe chuckled as well.

"Ruby's also a bit of one, isn't she." They smiled and laughed, finding making fun of other people behind their backs to be funny. "But there's other problems. Team Rocket are back… again." He muttered, sounding a lot more annoyed and depressed.

"That isn't good." Tom agreed. "Whatever they're planning, you can stop it." He told Joe, reassuringly. Joe didn't look like he was agreeing with him.

"I don't know." He said, sounding weary. "They've only made a few small appearances so far. I've only run into two of their commanders, but I have a feeling that they aren't even showing half of what they have." He stopped, looking up again. "Have you seen my uncle or the professor recently? He said they were going to talk about what they could do to stop them." Tom both nodded and shook his head, but not at the same time. "What does that mean?" Joe asked, confused by his signal.

"I haven't seen your uncle." Tom explained, "But I have seen the professor. I spoke to him earlier today. Catching up on pokédex information and all. Here, did you get the update for Johto pokémon when you arrived?"

"I did." Joe told him. "Tell me what he said."

"Well, he didn't really say anything about that." Tom explained, sounding a bit thoughtful. "However he did say something to me about preparing to fight Team Rocket, though I thought he was just giving me some advice. He didn't really say anything else. In fact he didn't even mention talking to you or Walker."

"Maybe he hasn't done, yet." Joe sighed, pulling his hat off his head and rubbing his wild brown hair. "I didn't ask." He continued, suddenly changing the subject. "How's it going being the Kanto Champion?" He asked. Tom shrugged with a small smile.

"It's been… interesting." He told him. "I actually haven't been needed up at the Indigo Plateau for a few days. No trainers are really challenging it right now. Some have turned up, but none got far."

"So what have you been doing for battle?" Joe asked. Tom shrugged.

"I just haven't battled in a while. But I certainly could. I'm coming over to Johto for a while." Joe looked at the screen.

"You're coming over here?" He asked. "How?"

"By boat." Tom told him. "The cruise liner I'm on is set to dock in Olivine City in an hour. Where are you right now? Are you in Olivine yourself?" Joe shook his head.

"No. Ecruteak." He told him.

"That's not too far away." Tom told him. "I could walk up and meet you there in the morning." Joe smiled.

"That would be great." He said happily.

"Oh and, by the way." Tom said suddenly, reaching down to pick something up. "I brought an old friend of yours with me." Joe looked confused.

"Old friend?" He asked. Tom nodded with a big grin. He lifted whatever he was holding into the view of the screen. A small red furred fire dog with a white main and fluffy tail was being held in his arms under his front legs, his tongue hanging out with a happy grin. Joe cracked a huge smile "Blitz!" He laughed, looking at his adorable Growlithe puppy who was hanging from Tom's arms. Blitz yapped when he saw his friends face, and he tried to lick the screen. Tom pulled him back, trying to clear the screen with a sleeved elbow.

"He's very happy to see you again." Tom chuckled. "He insisted on coming with me when he knew I was coming to see you. He's really persistent."

"Just make sure he doesn't burn the boat down." Joe told him. Tom laughed.

"Anyways, I've got to go, mate." Tom said hurriedly. "We're nearly at the dock, and I'm sure you're exhausted. I'll come up and see you in Ecruteak in the morning. Look out for me. Bye." The screen switched off before Joe could say anything else. He chuckled to himself as he walked back to his room to get some needed sleep.

"Thomas Icarus; the champion of the Kanto region, and Blitz; the Growlithe puppy, coming here to see me." He chuckled. "What an unexpected, but welcome surprise."

* * *

Crystal woke up to find herself lying on a comfy small hospital bed. As she regained consciousness she began to notice the world around her. She could feel the grip of a bandage around her hand, which was stinging sharply. Her eye was also throbbing. The cheek underneath it felt swollen, covering her eye very slightly. She stirred a little, moving her shoulders and regaining movement in them. A quiet voice next to her took her by surprise.

"You're awake finally." The male voice said. "I was beginning to worry you were hurt more badly then I'd thought." Crystal slowly pushed herself up, moving back across the bed. "Don't sit up." The voice told her quickly. "Just rest. You're hurt and exhausted." She turned her head to her left. Her vision was a little blurred, but she could just about make out details of the room. She saw grubby white walls and a doorway, with a grubby white hallway through it. Down that hallway were a few more rooms, like this one she was in. The room itself had a few tables and cabinets with flowers and medical equipment scattered on top of them. A dim single hanging light illuminated the room from the swinging cord above. Next to her was a chair, and sitting on it was a man in team rocket uniform. As Crystal's vision regained stability she realised who it was.

"Danning?" She muttered, confused, worried and uncertain about what had happened or was happening. Danning smiled weakly at her. He was just glad to see she was okay.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. Crystal moaned with pain. Her whole body felt like it was refusing existence. She reached her hand to her eye and touched the skin around it. She winced with the pain. The area was definitely bruised. She remembered someone punching her there. Then she began to remember more. She moved her hand away from her eye so she could see the bandage. Underneath the tight role of paper she felt a painful throbbing. More of what had happened before she blacked out came back. She looked at Danning, who seemed glum. He sighed. "I'm sorry that you had to suffer like that." He apologised. "I should have been there to suffer for you. You didn't deserve that." Crystal lay back against the pillows, leaving her head looking up at the dirty white roof. This was clearly not a very sanitary hospital room. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned since it was first made. She wanted to feel hurt. She wanted to feel sad. She wanted to feel regretful. But she didn't. All she felt was a low growing layer of anger and hatred. Something in her brain seemed to have clicked. Danning noticed it, and it worried him. He couldn't see the childhood innocence in her eyes anymore. She was becoming as solid and as ruthless as he and the other grunts were. He didn't want that for her. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of this.

Before either of them could say anything else, a new figure walked into the room. The figure was young and thin, but he had a weird air of control and power, the kind that only a highly intelligent emperor could wield and any butch muscle wielding maniac could only dream of having. He stood in the doorway, standing still like a matchstick, his head nearly touching the top of the doorway. He nodded to the two rocket grunts, the one of they laid in the hospital bed.

"May I speak to you both?" He asked. Danning nodded limply, looking away from the man.

"Yes, sir." He muttered.

'Sir?' Crystal wondered. Then she noticed what the man was wearing. He had the long white cape, the thin white clothing and the strong stoic stance of the Team Rocket Leader. But his mast wasn't on. Crystal realised that she was looking at her boss's face for the first time, and she was surprised by what she saw. The leader was a young man. She had expected, by his attitude, rules and methods, that he was some kind of monster. But no. He was a young Caucasian man. He had smooth skin and a thin slit mouth that seemed almost like a smile, but a sinister kind. He had sharp, almost eagle like eyes, that pierced the person they stared at like harpoons. He had a short cut of cyan blue hair that ran slightly down the sides of his head in wisps. Without the mask he could be mistaken for another commander. But it was his stance and his stare that gave his position away. He looked at everyone like they had done something very very wrong and, if they weren't careful, he was going to lay a knife through their palm. And if you dared to stare deeper into them you would see the fires of hatred burning up everything once human inside him and the winter of paranoia freezing over the remnants into a glacier of inhumanity. The man was not just a monster, but something much worse. He was a monster that spawned other monsters. Archer breathed in sharply as he prepared to speak on his own behalf.

"I wanted to apologise for yesterday." He said, looking at crystal. "I lost control and went too far. I forgot how young you were and I realise now that my overreaction was unnecessary and without proof. I hope you can forgive me." He didn't sound regretful. His voice was too strong for that, and his expression looked as face as a canvas painting drawn onto a human face. He was not regretful and he was definitely not apologetic. Crystal showed no emotion on her face, but the slightest hint of a growing hatred. She said nothing to the man crying plastic tears before her. She just looked at him, her face a blank canvas. Archer noticed that she was still looking at him, so he bowed and stepped backwards. "Hope you get better soon." She said as he left, with an unmentioned but noticeable spit of spitefulness. Crystal's response had clearly angered him, but he wasn't going to show it. Danning sighed as his boss left.

"You should have accepted his apology." He told her. "Now he's just going to find ways to spite you more." Crystal blinked uncaringly.

"I don't give a shit." She muttered. Danning was surprised by her attitude suddenly. Crystal's lower lip wobbled. "I don't care what a butchering bastard like him has to say to me or you or anyone! He can rot in heal with all the pokémon and people he's killed!" She fell back against her bed, feeling exhausted again. Danning didn't know what to stay. He didn't know how to do this parenting thing. He'd never been good at it. But crystal reminded him so much of his own daughter, if a little younger. He didn't know what to do or say to her to make her feel better. In the end he decided to say the only thing he felt he could.

"Well, at least you're still in one piece." He said, trying to sound upbeat. Crystal's upper lip began to wobble a little. Her eyes screwed up. Then she began to sob quietly into her hands. Danning didn't know what'd he'd said that had made her do this, but he could only assume it was his fault. "I-I'm sorry." He stumbled quickly, trying to apologise. "I didn't mean to make you upset." Crystal cried louder now, sobbing into her hands like a mewing child. Through her sobs Danning could just about make out she was saying something.

"I want to go home!" She cried with full choking force, her throat and lungs wracking with spasms. "I can't stand it here! I want to go home! I want to see my mum!" Danning sat back in his seat, his hand to his face. He didn't know what he was supposed to do here. The most he could manage was to stand up and leave. He felt that she deserved some time to rest. Hopefully come tomorrow she would be feeling better. He left Crystal to herself, leaving the young girl to lie in the rocket hospital bed, alone with her thoughts and her regrets. She wanted her father to cuddle her up in his arms and tell her everything would be alright in the end. But he could… because he was dead, and she was alone. Now there was nothing for her but regret.

* * *

Joe tapped his feet together impatiently. The cold was getting to him now. He and his friends had been waiting by the pokémon centre for half an hour, standing patiently, expecting to see the current Kanto champion come down one of the roads at any moment. Not even one person had passed in that time. It was freezing on this day. The sun was out, but was doing nothing to warm up the air. Joe's breathe formed icicles in front of his face. Winter was rubbing her arms with the biting chill. Silver was chewing his lip with impatience and sheer boredom. Even Ralph was struggling. He couldn't manage to keep warm and stay in the air at the same time. He was slowly flapping his wings back and forth, trying to catch the warmer gust on his sides to heat him up a little. After another thirty seconds of waiting Winter finally spoke up.

"Are you sure he said he was coming here?" She asked, tapping her feet on the ground, trying to get some blood moving through her body again.

"He told me he'd meet us here in the morning." Joe explained, hardly looking back at them as he looked into the distance, trying to spot someone, anyone, moving about other than them.

"Well it's 10:35 now." Silver told him stubbornly. Joe glared at him with annoyance.

"He'll be here." He told them. "Give him a minute." Behind him he heard Silver scoff lightly with arrogance.

"Hope you're not making him up to impress us." He muttered, almost under his breathe.

"Silver, shut up." Winter snapped quietly. She hadn't intended to be quiet, but she was too busy trying to warm herself up to be strict or loud. They waited, and they waited, and they waited. Finally Joe gave up.

"Oh all right." He muttered, turning his hat a little on his head and rubbing his hands to create a fad warming frictional heat. "Let's just go." He turned to walk away.

"You aren't leaving without me, are you?" A sudden surprise voice called from far away. Joe smiled a little before making an effort to turn around. He found it amazing how, of all the friends he'd ever had, this one was the only one who had the perfect timing to stop you in your tracks. Tom was running towards them from the north road, waving a maniacal hand, a small red and black fluffy dog pokémon following after him. Joe smiled. Being the champion of the Kanto region hadn't changed him one bit.

"Thomas." He shouted to him with a hearty chuckle and a large grin. "You certainly took your time." Tom smiled harmlessly back at him.

"You know me." He said, finally arriving at his friends waiting location. "Always fashionably late." He nodded at the flying crobat next to Joe. "Hey Ralph." He said happily. Ralph nodded back at him. Joe scoffed jovially.

"Since when have you ever been fashionable?" He asked. Tom shrugged with a thinking wince.

"Well, maybe not the fashionable bit." He admitted, still smiling. He reached out a hand and the two friends shook palms, grinning hysterically.

"How have you been, you numbskull?" Joe said, giving his oldest friend a brotherly hug and patting him on the back. Tom hugged him back.

"I've been here and there." He told him. "And everywhere. But mostly there." Joe smiled, releasing himself from Tom's friends embrace.

"I'll bet." He said, still beaming wide. "So the league's treating you well then?" He asked. Tom nodded.

"Well enough." He admitted. "Hell, I hardly see them at the moment. It's surprising how little a champion gets to see his lessers when they work in the same place. That and I get swarmed by fans every time I step outside."

Joe laughed at him. "I'd have thought you'd jump right into that pool. It was you after all who wanted to be champion most." He kept on smiling. "I suppose you get a lot of girls trying to take your hand, right?" Tom rolled his nose in displeasure.

"That's really annoying when they do that." He said, sounding surprisingly unhappy that he was constantly swarmed by girls. Most boys his age would be so happy to have that chance, but not Tom. Joe couldn't decide if he was a gentleman or an idiot for that. Tom looked past Joe and nodded a hello to the others. "Hi Winter" He said with a smile.

"Hello, Thomas." Winter said back, smiling graciously. Silver stood next to her, his mouth open slightly, an expression of sincere surprise and amazement on his face. He looked like the comprehending part of his brain was working on overdrive, as disbelief was flooding its internal circuits. His mouth stuttered a little.

"Y-you-you're f-friends with a league champion?" He asked in dumbfounded astonishment. "You?" Joe smiled a little at him. Finally he seemed to have shown Silver that, actually, he wasn't as wimpy and pathetic and awful as he seemed to think he was. Thank god Tom sold the part well.

"Don't judge, Silver." He said simply and casually. "You don't always know what connections a person has. It just turns out embarrassing for you." Silver seemed to scowl at him, although it was practically invisible under his still awing face. Joe looked away from the aggravated trainer. He felt something tug at his trouser leg. He looked down and into the happy and lovable puppy expression of blitz, his pet Growlithe. Joe's grin grew large and wide. "Hello, buddy." He knelt down and stroked Blitz's head. The fire dog yapped quietly, happy to see his owner again and to have a nice head stroke at the same time. Joe Scratched behind the puppy's ears, and Blitz kicked a rear leg with enjoyment. Tom smiled at the two of them.

"He insisted he came with me." Tom told him. "He just refused to be left behind. Once he knew I was coming to see you he grabbed hold of my leg and wouldn't let go." He laughed a little. "Your dog certainly knows how to hold someone one prisoner." Joe laughed as well.

"I can promise you I didn't teach him that." He joked back. Tom snickered at his remark. Blitz stopped pawing Joe's leg and smiled up at his owner. Joe smiled back. Then the little fire dog scurried over to the other two new people. He recognised Winter quickly. He had her smell stored in his memory. He began jumping up at her leg, and the teenage girl stroked his adoringly.

"Hey there, fella." She whispered, kneeling down and rubbing Blitz's silky fur with her soft hand. Blitz yipped happily.

"Oh great. So now he's got a fire dog and my cyndaquil." Silver muttered aggravatingly. "If he had any more fire types he could melt the polar ice caps." The others decided to ignore him. He was just wining to annoy them now. Instead Joe remembered something he needed to show Tom.

"Hold on a second." He said, sliding his bag gently of his back. "I have someone I'd like you to meet." He unzipped the bag. Tom looked a little baffled.

"You have a person in there?" He asked, not sure whether to me amused or worried. "I thought you said you didn't teach Blitz how to kidnap people." Joe laughed with his joke as he carefully lifted out something from the bag.

"Say hello…" He said slowly as he lifted the small egg pokémon from within. "To Casey." He finished the sentence with the dramatic reveal of his baby togepi. Casey looked at Tom with big soft eyes and gurgled a little. Tom smiled back at it.

"What is that?" He asked, genuinely intrigued.

"He's a togepi." Joe explained, holding the baby safely in both arms. "He hatched from an egg I found and carried around for a bit. Now he's one of my team. You should have seen him yesterday. He took on the gym leader here, he even defeated one of his pokémon." Tom seemed impressed, taking into account that the pokémon he was looking at was a baby, and probably wasn't ready for any real battling. On top of that he probably hadn't developed any moves. But hearing he'd defeated a single pokémon belonging to a gym leader was impressive.

"That's some good work." Tom told him. Joe smiled thankfully back. "So you've kept yourself busy when you aren't fighting Team Rocket again." He said. It was less of a question, more of an implication. Joe nodded.

"Yeah. I already have a whole team of six…. well, five now." He caught himself, remembering he'd just traded one of his pokémon, then released the pokémon he'd traded him for because it was too violent. "Training all of them has kept me occupied enough. And of course the gym battles have been tough but entertaining."

"I hear they're tougher on this side of the continent." Tom agreed. "So what's on your team now?" Joe shrugged.

"Apart from Ralph and Pippy?" He asked. "I have a bayleef, a quilava and a togepi. That's it." Tom chuckled.

"You and your starter pokémon." He joked. Joe chuckled as well.

"Dear god will this end." Silver moaned. Winter nudged him to be quiet.

"You been able to catch any pokémon here yet?" Joe asked. Tom shook his head.

"No." He told him. "I didn't even bring any of my pokémon from Kanto. I just brought Blitz to you. He has to go back with me, however. Your Uncle let me take him, but he also expects him back."

"Fair enough." Joe agreed.

"So, do you want to do anything while I'm here?" He asked.

"Well, we could have a look around I guess." Joe said. "There's a kimono dance theatre that may be worth looking at." Tom shook his head sharply.

"Nah." He said jokingly. "Let's go somewhere cooler than that."

"What's cooler than a dance theatre?" Silver muttered sarcastically. Winter nudged him again. "What about the tower?" Tom asked suddenly.

"The tower?" Joe repeated, sounding confused.

"The burned tower." Tom explained. "The one that looks like it's ready to fall down." Joe looked a little cautious of the idea.

"Are you sure that it's a safe place to be?" Joe asked. Tom looked at him.

"Mate, it's a tourist location. People walk around it all the time. It wouldn't be a tourist location if it wasn't safe to be in." Joe shrugged. He'd got him there.

"Alright." He agreed. "I guess we could have a look around for a bit." Tom smiled.

"Excellent." He chuckled. "Well come on. I didn't see many people over there when I passed. Wait, who am I kidding? I didn't see _any_ people when I passed." This time his joke didn't really get a laugh. Joe still looked a little nervous about where he was going. But he went with his friend, Ralph at his side and Winter and Silver following behind him, wondering why on earth they were coming with him if he was hardly even noticing they existed.

* * *

The walk to the tower was short and Tom had been right. There wasn't anyone around, probably because it was so cold. They entered inside, reading the various warning signs placed around the entrance as they did. They read things like 'Danger! This tower is over two hundred years old. Please take care' and 'Please restrict all loud noises and be careful of how and where you stand.' One even said 'Keep eyes open and feet firmly on the floor. Watch your step!' All these warning signs left Joe feeling a little worried about walking into a place that was apparently very dangerous to be in. But he went in anyway, because he was intrigued. He could smell the faded smoke and carbon from within the doorway before he'd even gone in. He just about managed to breathe through it, though the additional levels of carbon dioxide weren't making it easy. Fortunately there was oxygen in the air inside the tower, so suffocating wasn't one of the dangers. Winter followed him in closely, then silver and finally Tom brought in the rear, allowing his friends in first like a true gentleman. Joe took a panning look at the tower he was standing in, and quickly realised that when they named the place Burned Tower they weren't kidding. Every wall of the tower, every floor, every wooden plank, even the air that resided in it, was completely charred and black with ash. It amazed him a little. Not that the whole place had burned down and was still standing afterwards. That was no real surprise. Buildings did that all the time. What was amazing was that it had stayed standing over two hundred years and it still looked burned and ashen. The tower looked like it had burned down just yesterday. Joe would have whistled with admiration, but he remembered the warning about loud sounds, and he stopped himself. Winter stood next to him, also rather amazed by what she was looking at. She chuckled a little.

"Your friend certainly knows how to pick a good tourism location." She told him. Joe nodded a little. That was Tom through and through. Silver joined them. Joe was surprised to so that even he was admiring the place for what it was. He had expected Silver to be arrogant and say stuff like 'It's not that great. My house could stand longer then this on fire and look prettier.' But he seemed to be in awe, more than they were. His eyes were practically glistening with the light of the fire around them. His mouth was open a little, soundlessly mouthing small words.

"Silver seems to have finally shut up." Joe whispered so that their companion didn't hear them. Winter looked at him, then smiled back at Joe.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "I'm quite grateful to be honest. He's been moaning all day so far." They stood together quietly taking in the sight before him. "He seems to have warmed up to you a bit." Winter told him suddenly. Joe looked at her, not convinced.

"He seems just as arrogant now as he did before." He told her.

"Yeah, but now he's not trying to battle you or insult you every second, is he." Joe paused. What she said was true. Since the events at the Day Care, Silver seemed to have changed his personality a little. He seemed to be acting a little nicer, though it was tough to tell as he'd constantly contradict himself by suddenly being an asshole. But there was definitely something difference. There was the sense that he was less of an asshole now then he had been before. Maybe a friendship was possible, but Joe didn't feel that was likely at this point.

"You think that girl you saw him with had anything to do with it?" He asked. Winter shrugged.

"She could have." She told him. "It possible. When I interrupted them I could have sworn that they had been…" She leaned closer so Silver could definitely not hear them. "Kissing." Joe had to hold a small snicker in for the sake of decency and respect.

"You think she was his girlfriend?" He asked.

"I didn't suggest that." Winter told him. "But it's possible. Then again it's just as possible she was his friend or even sister, so I don't want to jump to conclusions." Joe wrinkled his nose.

"I think the girlfriend belief was better than the sister one." He told her, looking disapproving. "That's just sick." Winter laughed a little. Finally Silver caught on that they were talking about something behind his back. He turned to them and began walking his way towards them.

"What're you laughing about?" He asked, suspiciously. Joe waved a dismissive hand.

"Oh nothing." He told him. "I just told a joke." Silver didn't buy it.

"Seriously. What were you whispering about?" He asked again, getting a little annoyed by Joe's lying and Winter's laughing. Joe had to hold in his own laughs now. For some reason he was beginning to burst with giggles. If it was over the small joke he had made, it wasn't that funny.

"No… really…!" He managed to say through his sniggers. "I-i-i-it's noth-th-thing! We were just mess…messing around!" Silver was growing impatient. He grabbed Joe by the collar and began shaking him back and forth.

"What are you laughing about?!" He shouted in his face.

"Nothing!" Joe shouted back, still laughing madly. Around them the building shook a little, but stayed standing. A small piece of wood fell away to the stony floor below. Ralph watched the two boys shouting at each other and the one girl giggling madly in the corner and could only shrug his shoulders in absolute utter confusion. Today was going to be one of those weird days, wasn't it?

It took the three of them a few minutes to calm down. When they finally did they re-joined Tom, who had been watching from afar and was himself chuckling a little. Blitz was sitting at his feet, looking keenly at Tom's left pocket. Clearly he had some kind of treat there that Blitz was keen to get a hold of.

"So what do you think of this place?" He asked as the three trainers returned to him.

"It's unique." Joe managed to say. He couldn't really think of what to say about the tower. Beautiful was not the word for it, unless it was the kind of beautiful that applied to destruction. "Certainly worth seeing once. Is there any more to see in here?" Tom shrugged.

"I don't think so." He told him. "There's only this floor. The floors below aren't stable enough to take people standing on them."

"So then we should head back out if we're done looking around." Winter suggested. All heads seemed to nod, except Silvers. He seemed a little disappointed to be leaving so early.

"We could have lunch in one of the cafés or restaurants around if you want." Tom suggested. "Cut of a bit of time we have lef…" He was stopped by a pawing at his leg. Blitz was tugging at his jeans, looking wide eyed up at him and begging for a biscuit. Tom looked at Joe, asking him whether he should give him one or not.

Joe nodded his head and shrugged a shoulder. "Go ahead." He told him. "He'll just keep whining if you don't." Tom nodded back in understanding. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bone shaped black charcoal biscuit. Blitz sat at immediate attention. "Just be careful where you throw it." Joe warned him quickly. "We are in a falling down tower after all." Tom held the treat in his hand. Blitz waited for him to let go of it.

"Alright, fella." Tom said softly. "Here you go." He dropped the biscuit, allowing it to fall towards Blitz's mouth. The young Growlithe puppy reared his head up and opened his mouth. But unfortunately he missed by only a few centimetres. The biscuit bounced of his nose and fell down his back, hitting the floor behind him and tumbling a little. Blitz spun around on the spot, wagging his tail excitedly, and he pounced again. But his paw hit the biscuit further away before he could eat it. The small lump of coal skidded across the wood floor and stopped at the edge, one end hanging slightly off. Blitz unthinkingly ran after it.

"Blitz, don't!" Joe shouted, seeing the danger seconds before it came, but Blitz didn't listen to him. He jumped back to his feet, sprinted at the biscuit, jumped and landed on the edge of the burned away floor, his front paws hanging slightly over. The biscuit fell away into the dark bellow. Blitz frowned disappointed. Then he felt something creak underneath him. The floor was starting to give way. "Blitz get back here now!" Joe called, worried by how close his puppy was at the edge and by the sounds of breaking wood coming from his area. Blitz stood up and looked at Joe. Then he looked at the floor. Cracks were appearing in the ashen planks, some of which were growing fast and were right in front of him. The ground creaked heavily. Then, before anyone could do anything, the wood broke away and Blitz was falling. "Blitz!" Joe cried with concern and fear. His friends gasped in shock.

Blitz hit the floor below with a sudden thud, causing even more wood to snap. He looked up and saw something else looking back from the dark. Two small angry eyes peered at him from a large red and yellow face. A thin snout came into view, smoke coming from it like coal exhaust from a steam train. Blitz took a step back, nearly stepping over the edge. The magmar took a deep breath. And fire consumed the area around Blitz the wood cooked and sizzled and snapped with the heat. Blitz began to panic. He was trapped now. All he could do was… fall. Falling. The wood he was standing on snapped as the fire burned it away, and Blitz was falling again, into the darkness of the lower tower.

"Blitz!" Joe cried again, hearing his Growlithe howl with terror, then the sound of a gentle impact. He stared over the edge, hoping to see some sign of movement past the hazing smoke from the rapidly growing fire. The air bellow was quickly turning opaque black. The floor of the tower base was invisible though the haze and the flame. Joe refused to let go. He leaned further in, still yelling. "Blitz!" He cried into the mist. Winter's hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him backwards.

"Joe, look out!" She shouted at him. "The floor can't take your weight. You could fall, too."

"Good!" He exclaimed, turning on his friend, not angry but clearly distressed. He was already panicking about the status of his pet. "I need to get down there. I need to save Blitz. He could burn if we don't act soon."

"What are we meant to do?" Tom asked. "Joe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make him fall…" Joe looked away.

"Tom, I'm not angry with you." He said simply, not really sounding accepting but he was clearly under sudden stress. "I don't care! We need to get down there and help him, now!" Joe heard Ralph grumble behind him. He turned just in time to see his friend fly over the edge of the floor and dive into the smoke. "Ralph!" Joe shouted, reaching out to stop him. But the bat creature was already gone.

Ralph dove into the smoke, closing of his lungs and squinting his eyes. But he could see nothing. The smog was so dense now that sight was impossible. He didn't even know how low down he was, he couldn't see the floor below him. He spun around, and saw fire spinning in a slowly growing ring. He shot upwards just in time as a magmar's fire spin attack passed by under him. It was too dangerous down here now, with the choking smoke and the aggravated magmar. He flew back up to Joe on the second floor, the floor they had entered on. His lungs inhaled and he sucked in a full gulp of smoke as he escaped the rising black cloud. His eyes watered and he chocked, finally reaching Joe's level and landing on the wooden floor, his wings holding him up as his lungs tried to recover from so much carbon exhaust.

"My god, Ralph!" Joe exclaimed, running to the edge and hugging his closest friend, pulling him away from the edge with his arms under his wings. "Are you okay?" He asked, concerned. Ralph waved a wing at him as he coughed violently. His eyes were going red with the strain to breath. Joe turned to his friends. "Winter, can you do anything about the fires?" He asked. Winter nodded.

"I'll try." She told him, unclipping a pokeball. She released Staryu, who took one look at the fire bellow and readied a hydro pump. "Fire!" Winter commander a few seconds later. Staryu fired its cannon of water down at the smouldering blaze underneath it. The cold water extinguished some of the sweltering flame. However a side effect was becoming instantly obvious. As the fires were extinguished, the wood it was charring began to dissolve. "Staryu, stop!" Winter commanded as soon as she spotted this. Staryu halted it's attack.

"Why are you stopping?!" Joe demanded. "We need to get down there! We need to help Blitz!"

"The floor's too weak to take the force." Winter explained. "The wood is rotten. The water's causing it to dissolve and fall away. If we keep going we could bring the whole tower down on top of us." She made the explanation quick and obvious. They didn't have much time to act. Joe ran his hands through his fringe with frustration. He knew Winter was right. Bringing the tower down wouldn't solve any of their problems. But he was so desperate to save his friend. He had to do something. He looked at Ralph who had nearly passed out on the floor beside him.

"Is there any way to put the fire out without bringing the tower down?" Joe asked. Winter shrugged. Then she thought of something.

"Water will dissolve the ancient wood." She realised. "But maybe we can extinguish it with a lot of air."

"Will that work?" Tom asked.

"It might for a while." Winter told him. "Fire needs fuel, oxygen and space to sustain. But giving it too much oxygen or movement can put it out. Like putting a wet towel over it or blasting it with an airwave."

"What do we have that could do that?" Silver asked. "None of our pokémon are big enough to do anything like that, and it looks like bat boy there is out for the count." The four of them looked at Ralph who was heavily inhaling through his nose.

"Zephyr could do it." Winter told them. He could at least clear the air of smoke so we don't suffocate."

"What about getting down to Blitz?" Tom asked. The group thought for a second. Then Joe turned to Tom.

"Do you have an escape rope?" He asked. Tom nodded, reaching into his bag and pulling out a long strand of sturdy looking rope.

"Of course." He said, holding the item in his arms. "Why? Are you planning to go down there?" Joe nodded confidently.

"I need to rescue my pet." He explained simply. "He's in trouble and I'm going to help him."

"I'll go down." Silver offered suddenly. His proposal took everyone by surprise. None of them had expected him to say something like this.

"What?" Joe asked, not sure if he'd heard right.

"You don't think you're just going to go down into that smoke and rescue a fire pokémon, do you?" Silver asked him, sounding a little less heroic now. "You'll choke to death before you even get there."

"What makes you think _you'd_ fare any better?" Joe asked, offended.

"You don't have something to cover your mouth." Silver explained. "You'll choke on the smoke in seconds. What could you do if you're choking to death of fire fumes?" Joe looked at him sternly.

"Silver, I'm going down there!" He insisted. Silver pulled out a cloth bandana from his bag and wetted it with a water bottle. He then tied it around his mouth to protect him from the fumes.

"No you're not." He said simply. "You have a suffocating crobat and a baby togepi to take care of. I'm going down there." The redheaded trainer pushed past Joe and made his way to the edge. "Shall we get on with this then?" He stated.

Joe wanted to keep arguing, but Silver had gotten him right in the acceptance button. He was right. In his anger and desperation he had forgotten not only about Ralph's safety but also Casey's. The little togepi was already poking his large pointy head out from his bag. He could hear his little lungs coughing on the fumes already. If Joe went down into the smoke, he'd suffocate much quicker. He wasn't going to throw himself into the fire and endanger the pokémon he had adopted. He had made the promise to protect him, and that's what he was going to do. Reluctantly he allowed Silver to wrap the escape rope around his waist and through his belt, allowing for double the safety, and prop himself by the edge of the broken floor. Tom was holding the rope, preparing to lower the trainer down. Winter released Zephyr and set him about clearing the air around Silver so his could see bellow and around him. Joe moved Ralph and Casey outside so they were away from the smoke. He left them out there, Ralph watching over Joe's bag and making sure that no one tried to steal it, though if they did Ralph wasn't likely to be able to stop him as the smoke had left him in an exhausted, almost paralysed, state. When he returned he set about helping Tom and Winter hold the rope. As a group they would slowly lower Silver to the bottom floor, then pull him back up when he had Blitz. Silver was in position, waiting for the go ahead.

"Ready?" Joe called. Silver nodded back through the slowly rising smoke that was poking over the edge of the floor.

"Ready!" He called back. Joe, Tom and Winter nodded together.

"Alright." Joe said. "Now, Silver, if you slowly push yourself over and hang over the edge…" Silver pushed himself directly of. Joe, Winter and Tom were tugged forwards by the sudden pull of weight. They pushed back with their legs and held on desperately to the rope, just managing to hold on to the dangling redheaded trainer who had just fallen over the edge.

"God damn it, Silver!" Winter shouted, using all her strength to pull the rope. "We wanted you to slide off, not jump off! We could have dropped you!" From bellow there was an audible huff of irritation.

"Just shut up and lower me!" They heard Silver retort from his hanging place just below the second floor's wooden plank edge. The three trainer's slowly began to loosen their grip, pushing the rope forwards so that Silver was slowly loosing height. Gently they brought the teenage boy towards the ground and into the smoke. Zephyr followed him, gusting his wings every now and then to keep most of the smoke away. Sadly it didn't keep the smell away, and quickly Silver found his nose was aching and his eyes were watering. His lungs began to spasm a little as they inhaled the unbreathable smog. "God it's like a sauna in here." He muttered, choking a little. "If sauna's had actual fire in here!" He added for good measure. Slowly he descended, the rope straining a little but managing to hold his weight. It was at times like this he was glad that the factory workers that made this stuff made a good product and not a faulty one.

"How fare are you, Silver?" Joe asked. Silver looked around, spinning in the air a little as he lay flat, descending slowly with the rope.

"I'm just about above the first floor now." He called up. As he looked around he saw something red and hot glowing through the smoke. It moved a little closer. His human eyes were fixed on this unnatural glare of light. Behind it appeared a thin yellow snout attacked to a red fiery head with sharp and angry eyes. The magmar took a deep inhale of breath.

"Oh crap!" Silver exclaimed. He tried to swing out of the way but couldn't swing far enough. The magmar spat an ember. Silver dropped lower, narrowly avoiding the flame. However the small flicker scrapped the rope, igniting a small section above Silver. "Aahh!" He exclaimed, seeing the fire burst into life. He tried to wait it out, blowing air onto it desperately. It didn't work. "Oh god!" He muttered, unclipping a pokeball. "Go, Totodile!" He called, releasing the pokeball into his arms. Totodile sat in between his hands, smiling widely. "Not now!" Silver exclaimed anxiously. "Now put that fire out, quick!" Totodile looked up at the now burning rope holding them up and rubbed his hands. Finally he was getting something interesting to do. The little water crocodile climbed up Silver's shoulder and perched there, aiming his water gun at the flame.

"Silver, is everything okay?" Joe called. Silver shook his violently.

"Noooooo!" He called up, not exactly enthusiastically, but definitely quickly. "I'm having trouble with a magmar here. Help would be nice." He called up desperately.

"Zephyr, give him a hand!" Winter called. The self-centred pidgeotto flew down to Silver's level, confronted the magmar that was assaulting him, and fired a gust attack at it. The magmar stumbled back, away from the edge and back into the smoke. That would keep it away for a little while.

"Thank you." Silver called back up gratefully. He began lowering himself down further and further. Eventually he felt his feet touch the cold stone floor below and he called up to stop. The three trainers holding him stopped lowering the rope and help onto it loosely. Silver looked around for any sign of the fallen puppy. "Totodile, could you please get of my shoulder." He asked feeling his pokémon moving around and kicking his skin. Totodile yapped and jumped down, landing on the stone floor an waddling around, looking for a friend to play with. He yapped a bit. From the smoke he got a response. Something barked at him through the fire.

"That sounded like Blitz!" Joe called from above. "Grab him and we'll bring you back up." Silver coughed and rubbed his face which was becoming covered in burning ash.

"Alright." He muttered. Then he began to call out into the smoke. "Blitzy!" He shouted. "Blitz Blitz Blitz! Here little Growlithe! Come to Silver." He felt really ashamed that he was doing this. But if he didn't it was likely that Joe wouldn't pull him back up. He wasn't planning on burning today. From the smoke he heard the sound of a dog barking. Then, through the black haze, Blitz ran towards him, still conscious and still expecting a biscuit. Surprisingly enough he didn't look any worse for wares having fallen a few floors down and fully inhaled the smoke several times. In fact he hardly looked hurt at all. Silver was grateful that he had come when he was called. "Atta boy." He said, picking the Growlithe up gently and holding him in his arms. "I've got him." He called up.

"Good!" Joe called back down. "We'll pull you back up." Silver called Totodile back over and they began ascending again. Zephyr was still above them, trying to fight of the magmar which was back up and even angrier now. It spewed flame but the large bird avoided the attack, gusting backwards and staying out of its way. The magmar was steaming now, quite literally. It saw this attacking bird, the dangling human and the yapping fire puppy as threats to its home and it was going to defend itself. It spewed a flamethrower at Zephyr who darted aside and away from the attack. Unfortunately the attack hit the rope instead. There was a snapping sound, and Silver was falling again.

"No!" Joe exclaimed as the weight disappeared and he, Winter and Tom fell backwards. The rope fell limp in their hands. Silver was falling again, with no one able to stop him.

"Ahh!" He exclaimed as he dropped. He nearly hit the ground, only to be stopped again by something grabbing hold of the rope. He looked up. Zephyr had his talons gripping the charred end of rope in his arms. It was pulling with all its might, trying to lift him back into the air. The magmar was standing at the edge of the floor, glaring at them. It was readying a flamethrower. "Totodile, do something to stop it!" Silver instructed. Totodile climbed the rope a little and glared at the fiery creature in the flames. It was about to use another flamethrower, and this time Zephyr wouldn't be able to dodge it. So he did the only think he could to defend him. He spat at the beast. Only he spat a huge ball of water that engulfed the whole Magmar in seconds. The pokémon fell unconscious, the attack doing too much damage for it to keep defending itself. "Good job, buddy." Silver complemented, holding Blitz in his arms still. The Growlithe puppy was kicking a little, squirming in his tight grip. But he did know how high up he was and how much it would hurt to fall again. "Now get me out of here!" Silver shouted up to the others. Joe sighed greatfully. His pokémon had been rescued. Now all they had to do was get Silver back up to them, put out the fires then get out of there.

"Zephyr, pull him up." Winter called. The reluctant pidgeotto pulled the rope and slowly lifted Silver back up. Finally he reached the second floor and was back on the solid wood floor again. "Now get to work putting those fires out." Winter continued. Zephyr dropped Silver onto the floor, leaving him to land with a painful 'oomph'. Then he flew back down to the lower level and began flapping his wings. Slowly the fires were extinguished by the force of the air he was creating. Joe ran up to Silver and scooped Blitz out of his hands.

"Oh my god, Blitz!" He exclaimed, hugging the Growlithe puppy tight in his arms. "You're okay! Thank Arceus!" He exclaimed with joy. Blitz licked his face, happy to be embraced by his owner again. Silver groaned and pushed himself onto his knees, Totodile lying next to him and also looking tired and hurt.

"Next time you go down." Silver managed to huff as he fell forwards onto his face and exhaled loudly. Joe chuckled a bit. He was grateful that he had rescued Blitz. He was thankful that he had done it successfully, too. He could have been killed, but he risked his own life anyway just to save a small puppy. Maybe Silver wasn't so bad after all. Tom was smiling with them.

"I'm so glad this ended well." He said quietly. "I'd hate to think I'd accidentally killed your pet and your friend." Joe waved a hand.

"It's okay." Joe told him. "It's not your fault. Now let's get out of here. We should get the fire brigade to sort this out." As if it was on some unnatural universal cue, a bunch of men dressed in fire proof clothing and carrying long hoses rushed in through the doorway. The smoke must have been seen from outside and someone must have notified them while the group of trainers were in there. Winter withdrew Zephyr quickly so that he wasn't in the way. Immediately the fire men began splaying the whole area on fire with a strange evaporating foam. The foam covered everything, turning the whole tower into a weird bath. The fires were quickly extinguished, and the foam quickly began to evaporate away, returning the tower to its much less burned usual state. The firemen sighed with relief. So did the children.

"That's one fire threat neutralised." One of the men exclaimed with relief. "What are you children doing in here? You could have been killed."

"We were trying to rescue one of our pokémon." Winter explained. Joe looked down at blitz who had his tongue hanging out and was wagging his tail madly.

"You should have left that to us." Another fireman said. "You could have suffocated in here, or burned. You should have come to us straight away."

"Sorry for doing your job." Silver muttered under his breath. The three other trainers quickly shushed him so he didn't offend the men who had just defused the situation. The fireman nodded, a thankful smile visible through his fireproof visor.

"Well, at least none of you are hurt." He said. "What caused this?" He asked.

"I accidentally aggravated a magmar." Tom explained. The firemen gave him an odd look.

"Aren't you that kid who became the Kanto champion a month ago?" One asked. Tom nodded. "Hmm." He said. He didn't make his opinions aired, but it was clear he didn't think approvingly of Tom. Tom looked a little bad now.

"Are all of you okay?" the other fireman asked. The group nodded together. "Alright. Then you should get out of here. This place isn't really safe right now."

"Incidently, is that Crobat outside anyone here's?" Another fireman asked. Joe raised his hand.

"He's mine." He explained.

"You know he bit me on the hand when I tried to check to see if he was okay." The fireman said, rubbing his gloved palm.

"I'll tell him off." Joe said reluctantly as he led his friends out of the building.

* * *

The four trainers and three pokémon still outside their pokeballs all reunited and stopped outside the pokémon centre.

"I am so glad that was over." Joe said thankfully, placing Casey back safely into his bag and giving Ralph a disappointed look. Ralph himself was looking too ill to feel bad about his actions. Tom looked a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry about all that." He said apologetically. "I didn't know that would happen." Silver pointed a sharp finger at the champion.

"You should be!" he exclaimed angrily. "I could have died doing that!"

"Silver, you did offer to go down for us." Winter reminded him. Silver glared at them.

"So. I only did that because I knew how to jump into a fire. You didn't. I could have set my hair on fire!"

"How would you have known?" Tom asked, throwing comebacks around like free dollars. Silver turned on him, a maniacal expression of anger coating his face like multi-coloured red paint. Joe decided to interrupt them.

"Tom, it's okay. I don't blame you. It was an accident." He said kindly. "What's important is that Blitz and Silver are okay and the fires were put out. No one was hurt." Ralph coughed, attention seeking for sympathy. "Oh, except maybe Ralph." Joe added. "But that was your own fault." He pointed at the bat, looking disapproving. "You dived into the smoke yourself. You should have known this would happen." Ralph groaned annoyed. He just wanted to rest. Tom smiled a little.

"Thank you, Joe." He said, grateful that his friend wasn't angry with him. He looked at his wrist and hauled up his bag. "I should get going." He said suddenly. I have places to be. This was fun though. Well, maybe not exactly fun…" He said quickly, remembering that burning to death in a fire wasn't what most people called fun. Joe was looking at him.

"Really?" He asked, sounding sad. "You have to go now?" Tom nodded.

"I'm needed elsewhere." He told him.

"Where are you going?" Joe asked, sounding a little hopeful. "We might be going the same way." Tom looked sadly at his friend.

"Unless you're going back down to New Bark town I don't think we are." He told him. Joe looked disappointed.

"Oh, okay." He said sadly. "It was nice seeing you again."

"You too, mate." Tom said back, putting on a smile. The two friends shook hands and gave another brotherly hug. Joe then knelt down and patted Blitz on the head.

"See ya, buddy." Joe said. Blitz looked sad to leave. He licked Joe's face, leaving a few coal charred marks on his cheek. Joe wiped them of, chucking a little. "Take care of this fool for me." He instructed. Blitz nodded soldierly. He stepped back and waddled away with Tom as the two of them headed south out of the city. Joe and his friends waved them off, Silver doing so less enthusiastically. When tey were gone, Joe sighed exhaustedly. Ralph was still coughing beside him. "I say we take the rest of the day off." He decided. "I'm tired, and Ralph needs a check-up. He breathed in a lot of smoke."

"Agreed." Winter, Silver and Ralph voted unanimously.

"Good." Joe groaned, yawning a little. "Next time we go to the dance theatre."

"Agreed." His friends voted again.


	17. Chapter 17: Farm Hands

The next day Danning dropped by to visit Crystal and see how she was doing. He figured that now she'd had a day to rest she'd calmed down a bit, so she could get back on with her work. She had been though a lot, so she deserved the rest. The only problem was if she spent much longer Archer was likely to give her another scar. He took the short walk through the base to the doctor's station near the back, away from the living halls, the locker room, the vehicle garage and the boss's office. It took him barely a minute to reach the grubby white door and the grubby white walls within. He stepped inside, greeted the medical grunt on round and headed for the room Crystal was in. He had planned to apologise to her when he went in, as he had just left her the day before. He was expecting her to be rather unhappy with him for that. But when he opened the door there was no one on the bed. The room was empty. Where had Crystal gone? Hurriedly Danning turned around and headed back to the entrance room. He stepped up to the desk and tapped his knuckles on it twice, getting the grunt at the chair's attention.

"Where's the girl in room 006 gone?" He asked. The grunt looked blankly at him.

"What girl?" He asked. Danning clenched his fists.

"The girl that got beaten up by you-know-who!" He snapped. "Where is she? Proton didn't come back for her, did he? Or Baxter?" The grunt looked flustered.

"I-know-who?" He asked. Danning slammed a fist on the table. The grunt jumped on his seat.

"Our boss, dipshit!" He snapped. "Where is the girl?" The grunt fumbled his fingers. He clearly had never met Danning before, and now he was beginning to regret doing so now.

"S-she left." He explained quickly. "A-about two minutes ago. Just before you came. Got up and walked out by herself. She seemed really blanked out." Danning grumbled.

"Did she say where she was going?" He persisted. The grunt shook his head. "Damn it!" He growled.

"B-but there's a mission heading out in a minute or so." The grunt added quickly. "She might have headed to join that. You might still catch her."

Danning stepped away from the desk. "Right." He muttered angrily. Then he was out through the doctor's office and off down the corridor. He ran as fast as his aging legs would take him towards the vehicle garage.

When he got there he saw a jeep heading out with several grunts in it. One of them was Crystal. He spotted her face in the back window as she looked out. And she saw him to. She didn't smile. She didn't frown. She didn't even blink. She just stared, her face poker, her eyes emotionless. Danning felt his own heart freeze over a little. Her stare was ice cold and soul chilling. Behind the sadness and the loneliness he could see a tainted and twisted internal fire of hatred. It was the same fire that Archer himself held within his own scouring scorching eyes. Had he imbedded his own blooming flower of fury in her heart too, like he had his own commanders? The jeep clunked out of the building, through the opened metal gate and rolled off into the distance, turning a corner and vanishing from sight. Danning stood there for a bit longer. He stared at the gate as it closed down and hid the outside world from within again. He still stood there, looking off with deep concern. Where was she going? What was she planning to do there? Was she hoping to run away? Danning shuddered. Arceus help her if she tried to run away. The commanders would come and hunt her down, and they'd never stop. Of all the things Archer despised, cowardice was near the top, just below disloyalty. Danning wanted to wish she'd run for it, that she'd try and make it out of this horrible world and back to the comfort a child should know, but he knew that she'd never make it. None ever do once they enter Team Rocket. They make a cultic pact. He could only pray she made the right choices out there.

"Please, Crystal." He muttered quietly in prayer. "Please, for the love of almighty Arceus above, please don't do anything stupid!"

Even though he'd made his wish, he knew in his heart that, in the end, it would not come true. In fact none of them ever did. Arceus had forsaken him. Arceus had forsaken all of them. Even the girl.

* * *

At the crack of dawn Joe and his group were up. Then they went back to sleep. Then, when it was three hours later, at approximately eight on the morning, they got up again and set of on the long journey towards Olivine City. They gathered their stuff, collected their pokémon who were being healed and headed out for the north of the city. Once there they headed for the North West gate. And once they were through that they were out into the wilds again. This time they were following route 38 west along a hilly grassland.

The journey here wasn't too long, not taking much more than two hours. Occasionally they were jumped by a trainer, but Silver had decide that this time he would take them on. That was an interesting evolution to his personality. Joe had thought he would just hang around and complain about him being a crap trainer. But now he was jumping head first into the diving board, missing the water completely but at least he was trying. Joe had to admit he was grateful to have a rest from all the battling. He and his team had been doing so much against gym leaders and rocket grunts. Actually, come to think of that, he realised that they hadn't run into any Team Rocket grunts in a while. Maybe a few days or so. That was also weird. It wasn't like Team Rocket to stay this hidden. They weren't really very surreptitious. But he had to be grateful for what he didn't have, and he was very grateful for not having Team Rocket around so much. It gave him more time with his friends. Winter seemed more lively than usual. She was practically skipping with each step, only an invisible kind of skipping that can't be seen by the naked eye. She was also smiling a lot. Joe couldn't tell why. There wasn't really a reason for it. Maybe she was just happy. Maybe she was thinking something happy. Maybe she'd thought of a really funny joke. Whatever it was he was glad for it. Her smile made him smile. It was like a line of starlight jewels pulled from the heart of the universe, made from purest existence and reactive to everything positive in creation. Winter suddenly looked back at him and Joe averted his eyes shyly. He had no idea why he did, he wasn't usually a shy person. He may not be the most confident person either, but he'd never looked away from someone like that when they looked at him. What was this reaction? He looked back to see Winter smiling warmly at him. He found himself smiling back. For someone with a cold name like Winter she had a surprisingly warm heart. Ralph floated next to Joe, waiting patiently for Joe to pay attention to him. Not for any reason, mind you, he just wanted some attention. That happens after being left alone for a while. When Joe finally looked at him again, Ralph nudged him in the shoulder.

"What was that?" Joe asked, chuckling a little. Ralph smiled, raising his eyebrows. Joe laughed a little louder. "What do you want?" He asked. Ralph nuzzled his shoulder. "Stop it!" He chuckled, trying to push Ralph away. His crobat friend nuzzled harder, closing his eyes and smiling wide as he gave Joe a big hug. He lifted the boy from the ground with his strength. "Whoa!" Joe exclaimed as his feet left the floor. "Ha, Ralph you great fool!" He laughed. His own arms wrapped around Ralph and the two friends hugged madly, Ralph spinning Joe in the air and Joe trying to make his toes touch the path floor again. He almost retched as the world became a spinning gyro. "Uh, okay Ralph. Time to put me down now." Ralph didn't listen. He kept laughing as he embraced his trainer. Joe burped. "Uh, Ralph, I'm gonna hurl!" Joe exclaimed sickly. Ralph suddenly dropped him to the ground, reeling back in case the boy did decide he couldn't keep it in. He looked embarrassed and apologetic for so much spinning. Thankfully Joe didn't hurl. He was able to keep himself cool. He stood up from the ground and patted Ralph on the shoulder, chuckling still and beaming widely. "Don't panic." He muttered. "I'm okay." He wrapped an arm around Ralph's shoulders like he would do with a human friend. "Thanks, buddy." He said smiling. Ralph smiled back. "Your lungs got better then." Joe pointed out. Ralph shrugged. He had hardly noticed that he'd stopped coughing. The smoke must have left his lungs now. He patted Joe on the back and the trainer nearly fell on his face. He put a bit more force on the back pat then he'd meant to. Joe wasn't angry though. Ralph got off with a free pass. Joe looked up and saw Winter laughing at them.

"You two are enjoying yourselves then?" She asked. Joe blushed slightly.

"Heh. You could say that." He agreed. Ralph nudged him, and he gave him a confused 'what?' face. Winter kept smiling.

"Good to see." She told him. "You'd seemed a little serious the last few days. You doing okay now?" She asked. Joe nodded, encouragingly.

"Guess so." He told her. He hadn't been focused on the whole rocket situation, so it wasn't hurting him right now. Now that they weren't here to bother him, he was going to use this time to spend with his friends. "It's been easier." Joe continued. Winter smiled and nodded.

"Good to hear." She stepped closer. "If you want I can lend an ear if you want to talk to someone." She told him kindly. "I know you're struggling with the Team Rocket stuff and protecting your pokémon and giving up Cutter that quickly. So, if you wat to talk, I'll listen." Joe didn't really know why she was saying this, but he liked where this was going. He wanted to talk to Winter, but about what that shall not be known.

"Thanks." He told her gratefully. "I will when I need it." Winter nodded.

"Okay." She told him. She turned around as Silver finished his fifth battle, using hoothoot to knock out a rather unhappy looking corsola (A weird water/rock type coral pokémon with tiny legs and a round body). He cheered himself as another trainer was defeated.

"Alright." He yelled, pumping a fist and taking the girls reward money. "That's five down in a row. Am I on fire or what?" He asked, turning wide armed towards the two trainers traveling with him. They looked at him, smug faced.

"You may be on fire." Winter told him. "But you keep pushing yourself and you'll erupt." Silver looked at her, his brain pumping with adrenaline but his attitude not growing in the slightest.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked, chuckling to himself (Adrenaline makes people do that). "Is that some kind of zen saying you just made up?" Winter smiled to Joe.

"Zen, not really. Made up, definitely." He told her. Winter smiled at that comment. She'd wanted him to say something like that. Silver strolled over to them as the girl he'd battled walked away, hanging her head in shame and cradling her pokémon's pokeball.

"You two…" He stumbled, nearly tripping on his own feet. Totodile tried to avoid being kicked. "You two don't know what you're saying." He chuckled. He pointed a thumb at his chest. "I am an amazing trainer!" He spun around, pointing at his pokémon. "Just ask my Hoothoot!" He said proudly. Joe looked at Winter, a bit worried.

"Did you slip something into his breakfast?" He asked. Winter laughed. Silver looked at them annoyed.

"Oh shut up." He grumbled. "You're both just jealous." There was a flash behind him. Winter and Joe peered around him.

"Uh, just to make a change to what you said." Winter said quickly, looking at something behind Silver. "I don't think your Hoothoot will be a hoothoot much longer." Silver looked confused. Then he turned around.

"Crickey." He muttered as he saw the large owl standing there, where hoothoot had been. It was a regal looking bird, with light brown feathers down its body and long black wings folded at its sides and short black tail feathers. It stood on two short talons and had black diamond feathers pointing down its chest in a several rows. Its face was evil and smug, consisting of a small but strong looking beak, two sharp eyes and a large round head. Around its eyes it had a white thin ring of down and above its eyes it had two huge pointed up, wing like feathers that looked like rather outstanding eyebrows. They probably acted as such, too. The three trainers stared at this new pokémon, and it stared back. With a flap of its wings it gave a loud hoot. Silver stepped back. "Oh my god." He exclaimed. "It ate Hoothoot!" Winter and Joe looked at each other. Apparently blatant stupidity was also one of his traits.

"Uh, no it didn't." Winter explained as if to a child. "That _is_ hoothoot." Silver looked at her, then at the bird. His expression lit up. "Alright!" He cheered. He punched a fist to the air again. "My hoothoot evolved into… uh…" He paused. Slowly he leaned in closer towards the bird. "Um, what are you now, exactly?" He asked.

"Noctowl!" It hooted loudly.

"Alright, you don't need to shout!" Silver groaned, rubbing his ear. "I guess he's a Noctowl now." He chuckled. "Cool. Hoothoot has now become Noctowl! Awesome!" He began punching the air again. Joe felt a sudden level of dread hit his heart. Silver had evolved one of his pokémon, so the others couldn't be too far behind. He might get ideas. He might try to battle Joe again, and this time he might win. But as of now he seemed too occupied by his new pokémon to worry about battles. He was gawking over Noctowl like a child looking through the window of a candy shop, except hopefully Silver wasn't planning to eat his pokémon.

"Are you done?" Joe asked. The trainer looked back at them. Then he coughed, changing the attention onto him again.

"Yeah, I'm done." He mumbled.

"Only we've got somewhere to be, so if you're happier being here with your giant owl we'll just leave you behind." Silver gave Joe an annoyed glare.

"No need to take the mick with me." He muttered. "I'm ready to go." He pulled out a pokeball and withdrew Hoothoot - now evolved into Noctowl - back inside. "I'd like to see either of you evolve your pokémon into something as awesome as that." He muttered.

"I already have." Joe told him simply. He thought back to Cinders and Pitt, his two starter pokémon during his Kanto adventure who he'd taken in and trained all the way to a venusaur and charizard were made of them. Cinders especially he thought of. That moment when he burst from his own flame with strong wings and fiery breath was apocalyptic in its scale. Thankfully he hadn't exploded like an atom bomb, but he certainly had the power of one.

They continued on along their journey.

Eventually they reached the next route, route 39, which turned south again and headed down towards a lower, flatter area of land. From the top of the route they had an amazing view of the sea, the land sloping down and out of sight underneath it. The glisten of the sun on the water was so bright, even from here, that they had to shield their eyes when looking at it. It was like staring into an ocean of finely cut diamonds. By the sea they could see a great modern city, with nice buildings, a beach and many modernised apartments and nice looking shops. But the most blatant thing about it was the tall, red and white striped lighthouse that spun its light around like a slow moving lasso rope. It stood as a wise watcher over the ocean, leading ships safely into the harbour and away from the dangers of the open water. The three trainers watched it for a while, watching it spin in its regal splendour. Then they continued on, deciding they wanted to be there rather then watch it from afar. And so they continued on again.

Not too far ahead they came across a small farmhouse. The building basically stood at the edge of the road, a small stone path leading off it towards the front door. A withered brown white picket fence ran down the path, blocking of the field that the farm had ownership of. For a farm it was surprisingly small. The house itself wasn't terribly big and they only had one field, albeit a large one. In that case it must be some kind of self-sustained dairy farm.

"Nice looking place." Winter thought aloud.

"Hmm." Joe hummed. He admired the wooden make of the building.

"Well, we can come back and visit another day." Silver told them. "I thought we had somewhere to be?" The other two trainers shrugged. They were about to move on when suddenly they heard a loud and strained mooing from within the barn. It sounded like something was ill, rather severely so. From the barn two young girls, barely above ten years old, came rushing out, carrying baskets and wearing dungarees with worried expressions on their faces.

"Quick, get daddy the medicine!" The older of the two cried to the other. Then they split off, the older running out into the field while the younger ran back inside the house through the front door.

"What do you suppose is happening?" Joe asked. His three friends shrugged.

"Dunno." Winter told him. The girls came rushing back in. The older one was holding a basket now filled with berries while the younger had grabbed a just visible bottle of strange looking medicine. They both ran back into the farm. A few seconds later there was a more destressed mooing as whatever was in pain was getting sicker. "Do you think we should help out?" Winter asked. Silver groaned.

"We can't help everyone we meet." He told them. "Besides, didn't you want to take on the gym leaders or something?" Joe rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sort of." He told him. "But we should still see if there's anything we can do. We have time."

"Do we though?" Silver asked. Then he realised that Joe and Winter had already run of, Ralph following them, heading towards the barn to see if they could help I any way. Silver shrunk his head forwards with annoyance. "I guess we do." He huffed and followed after them.

They turned the corner into the barn and peered in curiously. At the centre of the tall, well-built wooden building, lying on a large soft bed of straw and hay, was a pail looking young female miltank. Beside it were the two young girls, feeding the sick pokémon the medicine and making sure it didn't get worse. And at the door inside the barn was a tall, binger, bearded, middle aged man, with a bucket in his hand. He stepped in down the small step under the door and walked up to the miltank, patting it on the head and placing the bucked under its head. He knelt down beside the sick pokémon, joining his daughters in caring for it. Casually he turned his head and noticed the three trainers in the doorway. Then he simply looked away again, as if they weren't even there.

"You just going to stand there?" He asked, still not looking at the three trainers. "Or do you want to give us a hand?" The three of them looked at each other.

"What can we do?" Winter asked. The man turned and looked at them again.

"I need to head into town and grab some proper medicine for Miltank." He told them. "If one of you could keep an eye on her for me, I'd be thankful."

"We also need more Oran berries!" The older daughter added, shouting over the bulky side of the miltank. "Lots of Oran berries. They'll make her strong again." Joe and Silver looked at each other.

"We can do that." Joe spoke up. "Me and Silver can get you berries while Winter watches her." Winter nodded in agreement. The farmer smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you all." He said. He stood up, leaving the bucket under Miltank's head. "I'll leave her in your care while I'm gone. I shouldn't take long, an hour at most." He left through the door he had entered in through. The two girls followed after him, taking their empty baskets and handing them to the boys.

"There should be some berry bushes down the end of the farm." The older explained.

"Please make Milky better again." The younger asked innocently. Joe nodded to her.

"We'll do our best." He told her. The girls smiled and followed after their father, who had already started up his car. Winter turned back to her friends who were now holding the baskets in their hands. Joe smiled at her.

"We shouldn't take long." He told her. "Have fun with the cow." He chuckled. Winter smiled back at him.

"Don't cut your hands on any thorns." She joked back. Joe chuckled a little. Silver and Ralph huffed simultaneously as they waited for their friend to actually start walking. When he did, he, Silver and Ralph set of towards the end of the long field, aiming to find some berries to feed the miltank with.

Winter turned and headed back into the barn. She looked at the miltank, and it looked back. Winter smiled weakly at the sad thing. She placed a hand on its forehead, and found a large amount of heat battering back. The pokémon was really ill. Miltank mooed tiredly, coughing a little.

"You aren't doing so well, are you?" She muttered, rubbing its forehead soothingly. Miltank grumbled sickly. Winter grabbed a stool and pulled in under herself, sitting down on it carefully, keeping her palm on Miltank's head. "Don't you worry. I'll keep an eye on you." She told it kindly. The miltank smiled a little at her weakly.

"Only when it's not on someone else." The sudden voice made Winter jump. She turned and looked out the barnyard doorway. Standing at the edge was a young girl, about the same age as her, wearing black clothing and a black hat. Her hair was down and her face was covered from sight by the glare of the sun. Winter stood up.

"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously. The girl chuckled.

"A friend of a friend." She told her. Winter looked confused.

"Do I know you?" She asked suspiciously. The girl shrugged.

"You might." She told her. The girl took a step into the shade. Winter gasped with sudden realisation.

"You're that girl Silver was with." She said suddenly. "The other day. I saw you together in the national park." The girl nodded, keeping her face hidden.

"You're quick." She told her. Now that she was standing inside Winter could see her clothes properly. Her black jumpsuit and hat had the large and obvious red R of Team Rocket on their centre. Winter felt a shudder of annoyance and dread in her spine. She was a rocket grunt. Of course she was. Crystal looked Winter up and down, keeping her face out of view. "Where is Silver?" She asked. Winter glanced down the field outside the barn and looked into the distance. Joe and Silver weren't visible anymore. They had disappeared into the foliage down the far end.

"Not here." Winter told her simply. Crystal rolled her shoulders. She could tell Winter was lying to her. But she chose to ignore her. Crystal crossed her arms.

"What is he to you?" She asked. Winter found herself surprised by this question.

"He's…" She tried to think of the right words to describe him with. "Barely a friend." She said finally. This was pretty much the truth. Silver may hang around with her and Joe but that doesn't mean she liked him or that he liked them. Crystal tutted at the comment. Then she lifted her head up. Winter gasped as she saw her face.

"What the hell happened to you?" She asked.

"The boss." Crystal explained simply, her black eye glistening in the sun's rays. She rubbed her bandaged hand. "This is the price I pay for seeing a boy outside work time." She muttered. She leaned against the wooden wall, breathing deeply.

"What the…!" Winter gasped. "They did that to you because you dated someone?"

"They thought I was telling on them." Crystal told her. "They were suspicious of me. They thought I'd told him their location. They thought I'd gone to the police." She wiper her good eye. "Truth be told I'd be too cowardly to do that anyway, even after this." She pointed at the bruising around her eye. Winter looked disgusted. She wondered how someone could keep themselves around these kinds of people.

"Why didn't you just leave?" Winter asked. Crystal laughed painfully, clear mocking commentary in her chortle.

"And where would I go?" She asked, sourly. "Home? I don't have a home anymore. Besides, they wouldn't let me back. They'd just find me again anyway. I've already been scared once. The second time they'll probably murder me, too." Winter was beginning to look horrified now.

"What's a girl like you doing in Team Rocket?" She asked, stunned. Crystal just looked at her, her blue eyes sharp and unkind.

"Why do you care?" She spitefully snapped. "It's not like we're friends. Why should you give any form of a damn about what group I join or who I spend my time with? You don't know me. You hardly even see me. I'm nothing to you, and you're certainly nothing to me!" Winter didn't know how to respond to this outburst. She took a step back from the harmed young woman, allowing her some space to calm down. Crystal shied away a little now, rubbing her hand emotionlessly, the tight bandage around her palm sliding about a little as she rubbed it. Winter felt sorry for her. The girl had clearly been through too much.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Winter asked. Crystal looked at her from under her hanging fringe and low cap.

"I came to see Silver." She told her simply, with little to no emotion, not even at the mention of her supposed boyfriend's name. "Why should you care. He's nothing to you, remember."

"I was just trying to be nice." Winter told her. Crystal scoffed.

"Nice. Ha! That's a plastic word little children use to describe their friends new toy. It means nothing. There's no one in this world who's 'nice' to me." Winter looked at her.

"What about Silver?" She asked. "Seeing as how you're demanding to see him. Why would you hang around him if you don't think he's nice?" Crystal looked at her.

"How old are you?" She asked. Winter looked confused, but she answered anyway.

"Fourteen." She told her.

"I was asking rhetorically." Crystal told her.

"Oh." Winter felt stupid now, though Crystal hadn't made it obvious in her voice she wasn't serious.

"I asked because you have the mentality of a six year old." Crystal told her, speaking with the wit of someone who had experienced all the pain that a long life could dish out within a short time. Winter looked taken aback. The girl in front of her raised an eyebrow. "You have this image of what love is inside your tiny little mind. You think it's all white horses and carriages and snowing weddings and a man whisking you off your feat unto some fantasy castle dream land. But life isn't that simple. Really love is nothing like that. In fact it is the exact opposite. It's aching. It's like having your very soul skewered by a pitchfork into the back of your heart. It's a want to be closer but a need to keep yourself far away. This isn't a fairy-tale, this is reality. And in reality every emotion hurts like a fistful of glass. Yet you talk like I want to be around someone I have feeling fore because they're nice. He may be sweet. He may be kind. He may be…" She paused. "…attractive. But underneath he is like every other boy, every other man, every other person who walks around on this hell of a planet we were born on. He only services his own needs, like the human animal he is. Do you think, when he walks in here, he'll want to see this." She pointed to herself and ran the finger down her body with a swift movement. "No, he won't. Because I won't be the same to him anymore." Winter breathed.

"Then why do you want to see him?" She asked. Crystal's anger faded a little, being replaced by deep hollow internal sadness.

"Because…" She muttered. "…I want to prove myself wrong." She stood straight again, rubbing her eyes. She looked tired most of all. She was clearly still in pain, but most of the major experience seemed to have calmed down. But her nerves were shattered, as was her innocence. "But enough of me." She said suddenly. "I want to know about you."

"About me?" Winter asked. "There's not really much to tell." Crystal shook her head.

"Doesn't matter." She told her. "There's one thing I wanted to ask you specifically." Winter raised an eyebrow cautiously.

"Okay." She said. "What is it?" Crystal folder her arms.

"You and that other boy?" She began. "What was his name? The one with the crobat."

"You mean Joe?" Winter asked. Crystal nodded. "What about him?"

"What is he to you?" Crystal asked. Winter was surprised by the question.

"He's just a friend." She explained simply.

"What kind of friend?" Crystal persisted.

"A good one." Winter replied quickly.

"Nothing else?" Crystal raised an eyebrow. Winter could sense an unasked question in her voice.

"What are you implying?" She asked now. Crystal smiled a little.

"I've seen the way you looked at him." She told her. "I saw your eyes. You're only lying to yourself, you know." Winter felt her cheeks reddening.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "Are you implying that I…?" She saw Crystal's expression. "No." She said sternly. "I don't… Me and Joe… He doesn't… at least I don't think… We're not… There's nothing between us like that at all."

"But you wish there was." Crystal told her. "I can tell just by how you answered that simple question. You're blushing." Winter covered her cheeks with her hands. Crystal smiled maliciously. "You like him, don't you?" Winter took a nervous breath.

"How do you even know how I've looked at him?" She asked, angrily. "You've never seen us together. You don't even know us!"

"I saw the three of you arrive this morning." She told her. "I saw you walking up to the farm. How you blindly followed him here, how you never took your eyes away from him, how you laughed while you were walking up even though there was nothing to laugh at. You're as smitten as a lovesick puppy, and you bloody know it!" Winter found herself taking a step backwards. She clenched her fists with contempt.

"What does it matter to you?" She asked stubbornly. "Why do you care what I feel about my friends? I don't know you any better then you know me! Why should I care what you have to say?" Crystal flicked her hair nonchalantly. Winter huffed. "Anyway, you said you were watching us arrive. You know where Silver is. Why are you bothering me when you could just go and find him if you really wanted to?" Crystal suddenly looked sad again. She hung her head, appearing to be in some kind of self-shame. Her lower lip wobbled a little.

"A-actually… there is another reason I came here." She admitted. Winter raised an eyebrow.

"And what reason is that?" She asked. The beaten rocket girl looked up at her. Winter found herself surprised to no longer be looking at the fires of anger, but at the waterfalls of sadness.

"I'm sorry." She whispered quietly. Winter looked confused.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm so, so sorry." She took a step back. "They made me come here. They made me lead them to you. We… We need to stop you… all three of you. You're all in the way. We need you out of the picture." A tall figure walked up behind her, his form shadowed by the glare of the sun. The girl glanced back at them.

"Is that her?" The man asked. Crystal nodded.

"This is her." She told him. "This is his friend. This is Winter."

"What of him and his crobat?" The man asked. Crystal looked at the floor.

"They should be down the field somewhere." She told him. The man put a hand on the girls shoulder.

"Good work, Crystal." He told her, pushing her gently aside. "The boss will be happy." Winter's fingers reached for a pokeball. "I wouldn't bother." The man said, stepping into the shade of the barn. "You'll just prolong the inevitable." Winter realised who was talking to her now. It was the commander who'd confronted them in Slowpoke well. Commander Proton, or something like that. The commander looked at Winter with his piercing eyes. A small evil smile appeared on his face. "I'll deal with her." He told Crystal. The girl cowered away behind the young commander. Winter grabbed one of her pokeballs, not looking at which one, and held it clenched in her hand.

"What are you doing here?" She asked defensively. The commander smiled again.

"I'm just here to make sure that you and your friends don't keep getting in the way." He told her. "I've sent the rest of my men to take care of your friends, so that leaves me with just you. I wouldn't bother fighting back. You don't stand a chance." Winter raised the pokeball.

"That's what you think!" She snapped. The pokeball sailed through the air. "Go, River!" She called. The ball landed, opened and released Winter's seadra onto the floor of the barn. River glared at the commander and grunt in front of them. Crystal knew exactly what was about to happen. Slowly she crept away, getting away before the whole barn could explode with them in it. Proton grinned and reached for a pokeball.

"Remember, you asked for it." He grumbled. A pokeball jumped to his hand and he threw it at the ground with full force. "Come on out, Golbat!" He yelled. The pokeball erupted and released the angry flapping pre-evolved bat into the barn. Winter knuckled down, preparing for a long fight.

* * *

"How many do you have now, Silver?" Joe asked, hauling a heavy basket already filled with Oran berries. There had been so many on the bushes that he's even been able to grab a few for himself. The berries tasted rather bitter, but they also had a nice sweet centre to them. He licked his lips. He'd decided to save some in case he ever needed them for his pokémon. He still had the jar of berries in his bag, though it was likely most of them might have gone off by now. Ralph had already had one, out of sheer nagging for it, and Joe had complied. The crobat was currently hovering seven feet of the ground and three feet behind Joe, smiling happily. Joe was glad he wasn't trying to dig into the berry stash he had to carry, but him waiting behind him had proven to also be rather annoying in its own way. He stepped back from the bushes and looked over to Silver, who was also carrying a nearly full up basket of berries. He looked a little bothered by the weight. Totodile was yapping at his feet, asking for a berry, but Silver was being defiant. These berries weren't for him.

"Do we have enough now?" He asked, hopefully. Joe looked at the basket Silver was holding, which was almost completely filled with Oran berries. He looked back down at his own basket. There must be over a hundred berries here. That should be way more than enough for miltank.

"I think so." He said, smiling happily. "We should head back then."

"Good idea." Silver agreed, panting hardly. "My legs are killing me." He moaned. "Who knew berries could be so heavy."

"At least we know we're doing this for a good reason." Joe told him.

"Yeah." Silver agreed. "We're feeding a miltank. That's a great reason." Joe found himself laughing a little. He didn't know how, but he'd found himself warming up to Silver. He hadn't actually changed that much since they'd firs met. He was still competitive, he still insulted him now and then, he still charged head first into danger, and he still cared little about everyone else around him. But Joe had also noticed that, in many respects, he wasn't actually that bad. He had tried to help out more than once, and at least now he wasn't trying to battle everyone in sight or steal pokémon or insult everything. He seemed to have calmed down a little. In fact he was even joking with people now, no longer at them. Maybe Silver wasn't so bad after all. Joe felt like he could almost call him a friend. "Bet I've got more berries then you." Silver said, smiling cockily as he outwalked Joe, holding the basket of berries almost over his face. Almost a friend. He still needed to stop being so cocky. Joe smiled back.

"Seeing as how you ate half the berries you picked up, I imagine you do." He said, smiling back. Silver heard his stomach rumble. He looked embarrassed.

"I was hungry." He said quickly. "Lay of me. I didn't have any breakfast." Joe chuckled. So did Silver. As the two of them walked their way through the path of bushes they heard a twig break nearby. The two boys stopped and spun around, as did Ralph and Totodile. There was nothing there. They stood and watched for a few seconds. Still nothing. "What was that?" Silver muttered.

"I don't know." Joe whispered. Ralph had his ear cocked. He seemed to be able to hear something they couldn't. "What do you hear, Ralph?" Joe asked. Ralph shrugged. Even he wasn't too sure what he could here. Joe turned back to the bushy path in front of them. Then, quite suddenly, four grunts burst from it, wielding pokeballs like grenades. Four were already flying towards them. "Get back!" Joe exclaimed, pushing himself, Silver, Ralph and Totodile out of the way as the pokeballs landed in front of them and released a koffing, a grimer, a rattata and a zubat. The grunts reached for more pokeballs.

"Great timing for a fight!" Silver complained, dropping the basket to the ground and reaching for his own pokeballs.

"Silver, this isn't the time!" Joe complained.

"What do expect me to do?" Silver asked sternly. "We're facing Team Rocket here! You expect me to just let them go or let them get away?" Joe groan.

"Alright, but don't forget what we came here for." He insisted. Silver smiled.

"This'll be fun." He muttered.

* * *

"River, use bubble!" Winter called. River sprayed a row of frothing bubbles at the fluttering golbat opposing her. Golbat dodged easily out of the way.

"Wing attack!" Proton yelled. Golbat flew towards River, wings spread out.

"Dodge!" Winter called. River bounced backwards, avoiding the attack just in time. Winter wiped her brow, the battle was proving to be strenuous. Proton was strong and vicious. He threw attacks around like they were free dollars. But his pokémon weren't terribly fast. Even Golbat was slow enough to dodge. If Winter could come up with a quick strategy and locate a weakness she could exploit then she could get through this battle with minimal losses. She already knew something she could do that would give her an advantage. "River, use smokescreen!" She called. Seadra fired a ball of jet black smoke from her snout, causing half the barn to fill with thick black air. Golbat was caught up in it.

"Clear it out!" Proton instructed. Golbat could be heard flapping its wings hard from within the ball, but the air it made had little effect. The area around it cleared a little but quickly filled back up with more smoke as it moved and swirled in towards him.

"Now, use hydro pump!" Winter yelled. "Hit the ball straight in the centre!" River gathered water and fired a huge cannon blast into the smokescreen. Golbat came flying out the other end, propelled by the hydro pump striking it in the chest, and hit the back wood ball, causing it to crack and break slightly. The large gapping mouthed bat collapsed to the ground, weak and limp. Proton withdrew his pokémon and growled.

"Damn you, Girl!" He exclaimed. "You and your friends have already caused enough problems for me and my boys. Why can't you just give up?" Winter held her ground, withdrawing River so she could have a rest and preparing for whatever Proton would send out next.

"You think I'd give up when Team Rocket are pressing to harm and pain others?" She asked spitefully. "You must be mad!" Proton growled. He unclipped another pokeball and hurled it.

"Get her, Koffing!" He yelled. The purple stale ball levitating on a cloud of noxious gas grinned at Winter. She reached for her own pokeball and released it.

"Go, Tailless!" She called. The pokeball opened and released her missing tailed slowpoke onto the field. Proton laughed.

"Why did you bother catching that one?" He asked nastily. "It'll never evolve, you do know that?"

"I do." Winter told him. "And I don't care. She's my pokémon now and I care about her like any other member of my team." She pointed a finger at the rocket commander. "Now, Tailless, use confusion!" She called. Tailless opened her mouth and a wave of psychic energy flew out, striking koffing in the face. The hovering ball of gas recoiled backwards, nearly rolling over in mid-air. It adjusted itself back quickly, however, and prepared for its own attack.

"Sludge!" Proton snapped. Koffing spat a huge globule of purple poison at the tardy slowpoke lying on its belly. The attack struck Tailless in the face and she recoiled.

"Hold on." Winter told her. "Use water gun! Knock it out of the air!" She instructed. Tailless took a second to yawn. Then she spat a small jet of water from her large mouth at the opponent. Koffing dodged aside, letting the water spray past it harmlessly.

"Tackle the dopey thing!" Proton commanded. Koffing flew forward with an expulsion of gas from its dry orifices. It rammed down towards Tailless and hit her in the head, causing the endless slowpoke to stumble back, its forehead aching with the force of the attack.

"Hit it back!" Winter instructed. Tailless jumped an inch forwards, just far enough for it to tackle Koffing back. The two pokémon collided, knocking each other backwards. Koffing rolled uncontrollably in its airspace, whereas Tailless simply landed back on her small fat legs. "Good job!" Winter called. "No, finish it with another confusion attack!" Tailless readied her attack and fired, smacking Koffing directly in the face as it rolled over and over. The gaseous creature deflated and landed softly on the hay covered barn floor. Proton growled and withdrew his second pokémon.

"You're bothering me now!" He complained. Winter smiled.

"That's what I was intending to do." She told him, smiling cheekily. Proton clenched his sweaty fists.

"Right!" He growled. "Right! If you're going to play like that then I'm going to have to send out the big boys!" He smiled maliciously and reached for a third pokeball, hidden at the back of his belt. This one was black with yellow lines down it in a U pattern. An ultra ball. And inside it was most likely a strong pokémon. Proton gripped the pokeball tightly in his hands then he threw it. "Deal with her, Muk!" He snarled. Winter gulped. She knew what he was sending out. She had seen one before. The ball erupted in a yellow and black flash, sending out a large purple pile of sentient, toxic, corrosive sludge. The pile opened its huge toothless mouth and roared at the girl, glaring with two small white eyes. Winter felt her heard drop a little with the loss of hope. A Muk. Great. She had battled one before, long ago. Admittedly she had been a much younger and weaker trainer at the time, but they always filled her with some kind of dread. Maybe it was how unnatural they looked. It was literally a slithering pile of conscious goo. Winter withdrew Tailless immediately. She would be useless here. Most of Winter's pokémon would. No, she'd have to use one of her tougher pokémon. She reached for another pokeball. What had she managed to get herself into now?

* * *

"They can't keep coming forever!" Joe shouted, using Pippy to take out one of the grunt's Zubats. "They have to be tiring out. How many have you taken out?" He called back to Silver.

"Three!" He yelled back.

"Three grunts?" Joe asked back surprised. "There aren't even three grunts by you!"

"No. Three pokémon!" Silver called back, annoyed. "I have no idea where they keep coming from, but they're pulling them out of the woodwork over here!" Joe fell quiet.

"We're in the middle of a field!" He shouted back, utterly lost by Silver's comment. Silver sighed. He was going to give up talking to Joe from now on. He clearly didn't understand anything he said.

"Nevermind." He called back. "Just shut up and fight!" Silver had sent out Gastly and Abra to battle of two grunts opposing him. Joe was using Pippy and Leaf to keep his grunts back, his own back to Silver as they stood back to back, backing up together as they held the grunts back, back, back, back, back… Uh, sorry, I got a little side-tracked there. So many backs in once sentence. Anyway, back to the story.

"Razor leaf!" Joe called. Leaf threw his head leaf and fired a row of circular bladed leaves at the grunts rattata. It struck, knocking the small rat back and across the field. Yet in a staggering amount of surprise, the rattata got back up, looking barely hurt. "These grunts are getting tougher." Joe called back to Silver.

"You think I don't know that?" Silver said angrily, trying to push back a rather aggressive raticate which had jumped at him fangs bared. Abra blasted it away with a strange psychic attack. "These fools aren't going easy!" He grumbled.

"Maybe we should try running for it!" Joe suggested. Silver looked back at him.

"You coward!" He yelled back. "We're staying here and dealing with these grunts right now. I am not running away like a little girl." Joe grumbled.

"Oh, sorry." He muttered. Silver nodded proudly.

"Good. We stand our ground!" He announced. There was a sudden flash in front of him. Silver turned his head back around to face his pokémon, and a smile grew on his face. "Oh yes!" He exclaimed.

"What is it?" Joe asked, trying to keep back a grunts grimer with Pippy's thunderbolt. He glanced back and groaned loudly. Abra had evolved. Now Silver had two stage 1 pokémon on his team. Joe felt that he's have to hurry up and make his own team stronger in order to stay ahead.

"Way to go, Abra!" Silver exclaimed, smiling happily and dodging a zubat's slashing wing tip.

"Ka!" His pokémon responded.

"Sorry. Kadabra." Silver corrected himself. "Now, blast these grunts away!" He commanded. Kadabra did exactly that. It's psychic blast move it performed next not only set the grunt's zubat flying backwards, but also the grunt himself. Silver laughed madly. "Hahaha! Good work, Kadabra." Kadabra bowed happily. "That showed him!" Joe groaned. Now he was getting even smugger. Hell had just built itself a traveling red roofed hotel on earth, and it was content to follow him around from now on.

"That's great kid." Joe called back. "Don't get cocky!" He turned and focused on his own battle Pippy was holding back a sandshrew with a thunderbolt and Leaf was trying to know a zubat from the air. As was most likely obvious, neither were doing too well. Joe sighed. "No." He complained. "Swap over. Attack the other pokémon!" Pippy and Leaf looked at each other, then at Joe. They seemed a little confused, but they followed his orders anyway. They switched places, using the same attacks but on the other pokémon. Zubat was zapped out of the sky and sandshrew was battered into unconsciousness by a fluttering barrage of crescent leaves. Joe smiled "Good work!" He complemented. He didn't have to worry about Silver. His pokémon were great one they got going. There was another flash of white from behind him.

Silver exclaimed. "Another one! Alright!" Joe groaned.

"Oh great!" He exclaimed loudly, glancing back to see that Gastly had evolved now. A haunter floated in its place, its claw scratching through a hapless rattata, knocking it out instantly.

Silver went to pat Haunter on the back only for his hand to pass straight through it. "Great job the both of you." He said, congratulating his team as the grunts he had just beaten ran off in cowardly fear. "Who knew three of my pokémon would have evolved today?" Joe sighed, slapping a palm on his forehead. Silver was going to be even more annoying to be around now, wasn't he?!

* * *

"Zephyr, blast it back!" Winter cried. Her pidgeotto gusted his wings heavily, throwing a strong blast of air at Muk, causing its liquid plastic-like skin to ripple and flex into wrinkles. But the sentient sludge pile held its ground, resisting the attack. Proton clenched his fist.

"Sludge!" He yelled. Muk hurled a huge glob of its own body at Zephyr, hitting him in the face. The batting pidgeotto spun around in mid-air and fell backwards, dodging out of the way of any other attacks. Winter winced. The battle wasn't going so well. Every attack she made on Muk, it resisted. This was clearly Proton's strongest pokémon. But she wasn't about to give up.

"Quick Attack!" She cried. Zephyr dashed forwards, striking Muk quickly and speed back, out of the way of a swinging sludgy claw.

"Minimize!" Proton called. Before their eyes Muk began to shrink in size. Its huge hulking body became smaller, thinner and harder to hit. Zephyr flew back in for another quick attack only to find his claws skimmed the edge of Muk's shoulder. The now smaller sludge pokémon swung up a large arm and smacked Zephyr in the side as he passed, knocking him out of the air. Zephyr landed painfully on his side near the entrance to the barn, rolling over a little as he did so.

"Zephyr, no!" Winter cried. She rushed over to the pidgeotto's side, checking to see if he was okay. Zephyr groaned. His beak clicked and rubbed the straw covered ground. Winter rubbed his feathery head. "Are you okay?" She asked. Zephyr blinked and shifted his wing. He followed her question with another groan. Proton laughed.

"Your pokémon are nothing against mine, after all." He chuckled, Muk following beside him. He sneered down at Winter, clearly feeling the air of control weigh in his favour. Winter hugged Zephyr, trying to get him back onto his talon feet but the attack had left him weakened. He struggled to push himself up again. Proton smiled with malicious glee. "Muk, finish them both!" He instructed. The barely sentient pile of slime slugged its way towards them. Zephyr spread his wings out, pushing Winter back out of the way. Then, to her mild surprise, he got back up. The large pigeon stood onto its scrawny legs and narrowed his eyes, staring down the approaching slime pile. Muk stopped, also a little surprised to see him getting back up. Proton seemed hardly bothered by this, though. He flicked a hand and casually said "It's no threat. Take it down where it stands." Muk reached out two purple dripping arms, preparing to attack.

"Zephyr…" Winter went to command. Then she noticed something was odd. Zephyr's outline seemed to be glowing. The edge of his body was shining, as if he was trapped in a skin-tight bubble of light. As she looked at him the aura began to grow, spreading a little over his feathers but never actually physically touching him. She stared in amazement. So did Proton and Muk. They had caught on to what was happening now.

"No." He muttered. He took a step back. "No!" He gritted his teeth. "That's not fare! You can't do that!" Winter looked in amazement from where she sat. The aura was now almost completely covering Zephyr in a large white ball of light. The only thing left visible was his face. Before it was covered he gave out a final squawk of anger, then he was enshrouded. The ball began to grow in size and width, becoming taller by at least a foot and a half. The ball glistened brighter and brighter, becoming almost blind. Winter and Proton had to cover their eyes. Muk was too stupid to do such a thing. Then, finally, the bauble went, the light fading away and leaving where it had been a brand new pokémon. This one looked like zephyr, but had a few new differences. The plume of feathers on its head were longer and of various colour. The Outer feathers were red while the middle were a bright golden yellow. They also curved at the ends. Its tail feathers were a simple maroon red shade. Its wings were bigger, its body was stockier, its legs were sterner and covered in downy feathers, its beak was stronger and its eyes were sharper. The new bird glared at his opponents, moving his eyes from one whimpering prey to another. Proton looked white faced. He took another step back, holding his arms up. Muk didn't follow him. It was too stuck to the ground, literally. Winter stood up again, looking in amazement at the beast her pokémon had become. Zephyr had evolved, and now he was a true predatory bird. Before he had been strong, but now… She smiled to herself with delight. She had the upper hand again.

"Zephyr…" She began, speaking slowly. The pidgeot nodded. Winter smiled. He hadn't forgotten his own name during transformation. This really was him. She pointed a finger. "Wipe them out!" She instructed. Zephyr grinned from his beaked face. He took into the air, hovering a foot above the ground and flapping his wings lightly. The force from this alone was enough to move Winter's hair and Proton's hat. The commander took another step back.

"Muk, take it down, quick!" He instructed. Muk pulled out a globule of sludge and prepared to throw it at the looming predator. But Zephyr had been prepared. He pulled his wings back and thrusted them forward, creating a seriously powerful gust. Even the walls of the barn began to creak with the attack. Proton was sent flying backwards. Miltank was pushed back across her hay bed slightly. Muk's skin rippled and waved, pulling backwards and causing it to form into large blobs on its spine, if it indeed had a spine. The simple movement of its wings had left the room in a real mess. Winter was surprised.

"Okay." Winter muttered, rather gladly surprised. "What else can you do?" She asked, looking up her pokémon. Zephyr looked back at her and winked. Winter didn't remember him having such a strong sense of friendship between them. Maybe his evolution had come about after a long growing feeling of honour towards her. It was a little admirable. Whatever reason had made him evolve, she was grateful for it. Zephyr flapped his wings and burst forwards at speeds that would rival Ralph. Muk blinked and suddenly Zephyr's claws were digging into it. The sludge pile wailed in pain. Zephyr raked his talons through the pokémon's shell and flew past, circling around for another attack. From its scars, Muk bled purple ooze. Proton was getting angry again.

"Fight back!" He yelled. Muk slowly turned around and readied another ball of poisonous excrement.

"I don't think so." Winter muttered as she saw Zephyr back down. The predatory pigeon dived, wings outstretched and talons readied to grab. Then it flew overhead, slowing down on its way out. Muk was ripped from the floor, its huge body creating a slurping pop sound as it was lifted of the ground by a whole two feet. The weight was too much for Zephyr, but at least he could lift it far enough to cause some nasty damage. The pidgeot flew outside slowly, raised in the air a bit with a heavy struggle, lifted his claws and dropped its prey. Muk fell screaming back to the ground. After a three metre fall it fit the ground face first. Its body spread out like a splattered jelly falling from a dining table. It was still alive, but no longer conscious. Proton rushed outside to see the mess that was his pokémon. He gulped. He turned to see Winter standing a metre away, looked both proud at Zephyr and furious at Proton. The Rocket commander stepped backwards. He clenched a fist.

"You'll regret doing this to me!" He hissed. Then he was gone, running of with his pokémon withdrawn into its pokeball and his hat firmly on his head. In the distance several other rocket grunts could be seen running in the same direction. There was no sign of Crystal, however. But Winter didn't care. She rushed over and hugged Zephyr, taking him by surprise.

"That was amazing!" She laughed, wrapping her arms around the man sized birds neck. Zephyr squawked as she pulled him. "You was amazing. Great job, Zephyr. You really saved our necks." Zephyr found himself smiling a little. She let go of her pokémon as Joe and Silver showed back up, looking exhausted after having run all the way back across the field, still carrying their baskets which were now filled with ripe berries, Ralph following behind them, not struggling with the distance at all but having to slow down to not out-speed his companion.

"Sorry we're late." Joe huffed as he stopped, resting a minute and trying to breath properly. "But we got a bit caught up with Team Rocket.

"I know." Winter told him. "So did I. I had to fight of one of their commanders."

"Oh." Joe said, surprised. "Did you win?"

"Of course." Winter told him. "Those commanders are like nothing. They're just a small challenge. Zephyr here proved to be brilliant for the task." She said, patting the pidgeot beside her on the shoulder. Joe looked Zephyr up and down in surprise.

"When did he evolve?" He asked.

"Just now." Winter told him. "You should have seen him taking down Proton's Muk. There was nothing more than a splat on the ground left afterwards." Ralph looked Zephyr up and down. He seemed a bit intimidated by his new form. He was thinking that Zephyr might try to out-speed him now. Zephyr saw Ralph's stare and returned it with his own smug challenging smile. Ralph growled a little.

"Alright!" Silver exclaimed. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's had a pokémon evolve today." Winter nodded.

"It certainly does." She agreed.

"I'm still winning, though." Silver added. "I literally just evolved two of my pokémon just now. They helped take down the grunts bothering us." Winter's smile faded a little. She looked at Joe who looked just as annoyed by the news. Silver's pokémon were evolving. God help them all.

"Are we gonna stand around with these baskets all day, or are we going to finish our job?" Joe asked suddenly. It took a few seconds for Winter and Silver to answer him. "Good he said, sternly. "The sooner we can get this done, the sooner we can get back on track."

"Look on the bright side." Silver said. "At least Miltank's getting fed." The slap he received on the back of the head from Joe's arm shut him up.


	18. Chapter 18: Lighthouse

The trio delivered the berries to the farm at hastened speed. After having to forcefully fight of Team Rocket they were wanting to just get back onto what they had originally been trying to do before; getting to Olivine City. Thankfully the farmer came back quickly, especially when his daughters called him to say Team Rocket had attacked. He had managed to get hold of some medicine for Miltank, and he had set to work healing it up as soon as he got back. The barn hadn't been destroyed to badly. The wooden walls were a little racked in areas and some of the hay had dissolved under Muk's toxic skin, but other than that it was surprisingly clean. Admittedly Joe and Winter had spent a few minutes cleaning it up more before he got back, so it looked better than it had been, but somehow they'd managed to keep it surprisingly clean. The farmer thanked the three of them for sticking around and defending them from the Rockets. He was especially grateful that his daughters hadn't been hurt. As a reward he'd handed them a thousand pokedollars to use in the shops (which will probably be spent on potions and healing medicine.) and, as an added bonus for defending the farm, he'd handed Joe a small shiny TM. This one was different to last one Joe had used in Kanto. That TM had been silver tinted. This one was white tinted. The farmer explained it contained a strong normal type move called strength, which apparently could be used to teach a pokémon how to move boulders. Such a move would be likely to come in useful in the future. He also told them it was from a special brand known as HM's and could be taught multiple times without the disk breaking. Apparently they were working on a way to make the design cheaper, so that all TM's made in the future wouldn't break when used. They said their thanks and wished them well as the group left again, heading back down route 39 south towards Olivine city.

The route was not terribly long. Olivine city was in sight all the way down it, but the walk down hill was rather tiring. Along the way the group didn't talk much. Joe was stuck in his own trail of thought, Winter was tired out from having to battle a rocket commander and Silver was to wrapped up in his own smugness to notice anyone else existed. It was worrying how many of his pokémon had just evolved, but what was even more worrying was his reaction to it. He was too happy, and Silver being happy could only be a bad thing. Joe was going to keep a close eye on him, and if he didn't then Ralph would. Ralph, at this point, was following beside Joe, also in his own train of thought. He hadn't done much for a while, but hopefully that would change. Team Rocket were getting more confrontational. That was a good sign, at least for him. That meant he had more people to battle and thrash with ease. For Joe however this was a very bad sign. Team Rocket were getting more confident. That meant there were more of them. That meant that they were readying for something. But what? What would the rockets want? What would they do?

As he thought this his foot caught on a small stone and he tripped. Winter caught his arm and held him steady, stopping him from rolling downhill like he had when they'd first met. They didn't need an incident like that happening again. He thanked her and she smiled back kindly. Silver just rolled his eyes and kept walking, not seeing the passing ekans sliding under his foot shadow before it was too late. He yelped in surprise as it hissed up at him, rearing and revealing a set of small fangs. Joe and Winter laughed at his embarrassment, and Silver glared back. After that they continued on again, walking more perceptively down the hill now. They had to admit, even while they were focusing on the ground, the scenery of the route and the view of Olivine was magnificent. The hill wasn't exactly flat floored. The ground in it had many many rabbit holes, which pokémon had dug up and made home, then abandoned for whatever reason. The grass was short but clustered, turning the floor a happy green. There weren't many trees. There were a few but they were in small clusters at the edge of the field, near the taller steeper hills outlining the route. A few autumn leaves lay scattered on the road and grass, coloured in their many shades of red, yellow, brown and dried green. The sky was still as clear as it had been on their way to the farm, cloudless, oxygen filled, bright blue and solar illuminated. As for the view of Olivine, words couldn't describe it perfectly enough. The city itself was made of a beautiful grey marble, the road of a smooth white cobblestone. There were obviously building like the pokémon centre and the gym around that stood out above them all, but the one that was the most outstanding was the lighthouse. A building of tall white stone, with a swirling red stripe passing up its thin cylindrical body. At the tip was a large glass oval made of multiple windows, and at its centre was a rotating bright lamp, powered by innumerable volts of electricity. The light spun even during the day. It was one of the most important parts of the city, purely because of that light. If it wasn't there, countless ships, especially in the past, would have been run ashore and many sailors lost. It also worked as a lure on land, drawing trainers into the city with its bright glare. And Joe and his friends had been caught in its line of sight, and they were drawn in like flies to a zapper.

* * *

Finally they reached the city gate and entered, not wasting any time. The city was just as beautiful close up as it was in the distance. The sun reflected off the building with a light glaze like a flashlight on a mirror. The three trainers, and one crobat, stood in the middle of the street, looking at its awe. They were moved aside by an angry driver honking his horn as he tried to pass. Ahead of them they could see the beach, a line of thin yellow sand at the edge of the furthest road, and lapping at its shore was the shallow emerald water of the ocean, having travelled many miles just to be here with them. The four of them gazed out into the blue, their eyes sparkling.

"Well, Tom was right." Joe muttered, his mouth hanging open a little. "This place is gorgeous." Winter and Silver nodded in unison. Even Ralph was in a bit of awe. Joe shook his head, trying to focus himself. "Where to then?" He asked. Winter looked at him.

"We could go to the beach." She suggested. Silver quickly shook his head.

"I don't want to get sand in my feet." He told her.

"Since when did you worry about little things like sand?" Winter asked him. Silver looked at her, bothered.

"Have you ever tried rubbing sand of your feet?" He asked. "That stuff hurts, plus it gets caught in your skin gaps. It's like walking around with your own personal stony carpet." Joe exhaled.

"So the beach is a no then?" He said. Winter shrugged. She had been looking forward to that. She hadn't been to the beach in ages. She missed the sea side. Joe looked around at the many buildings. "We could always just go to the gym." He suggested. The other two looked at him. Even Ralph looked at him. Together they gave a surrendering sigh.

"Guess that was the inevitable answer, wasn't it." Winter muttered.

"When am I ever going to choose where we go?" Silver asked himself, speaking a little too loudly. They turned around and headed back the way they came, which was past the gym. When they got there, however, they found a sign on the door. Joe lifted the piece of paper out and read it aloud.

 _"_ _Gone to the lighthouse._

 _Something has come up there._

 _Should be back soon._

 _Jasmine – Gym Leader of Olivine City."_

"So she's at the lighthouse." Winter repeated. "What would a gym leader be needed at a lighthouse for?" She wondered. Joe shrugged.

"Maybe she's an electric type user and they need something to fix the lights?" He suggested. Three seconds passed. One by one they looked upwards. The lighthouse was standing not too far away behind them. The large bulb at its top continued to spin like a drunken party game.

"Looks fine to me." Winter continued. "Doesn't seem likely to need any fixing."

"Maybe we should just go find her and ask." Silver suggested. The two other trainers looked at him. He looked back. "She must still be up there, otherwise the sign would've been removed. So why don't we just go up and ask?" Joe and Winter looked at each other. What Silver was saying actually made sense. That was a reasonable thing to do in this situation. Joe found himself nodding in agreement.

"Good idea." He said, feeling the words burn his tonsils as he said them. Saying something positive about Silver hurt more then he'd expected. He gulped. "Well then." He stammered. "Let's not hang around here much longer. Let's get up there."

They looked around the base of the lighthouse for a bit until eventually Ralph managed to find the front door. It was located on the other side of the lighthouse, on a large stone plinth with a set of stone steps leading up to it. These steps were near a fishing house on the beach. It was weird that the door had been placed so far away from the road, but maybe the lighthouse owner lived in the fishing hut as well, or at least on his holidays. Either way, it wasn't their place to question. They walked up the steps and stood outside the tall wooden door at the top. They waited for a second before Joe finally knocked. They waited for ten seconds. There was no response. Not even a sound from inside.

"Try again." Winter suggested. Joe knocked again. They waited longer. Still nothing, not even a whisper from behind the wood. They took a step back.

"Doesn't look like anyone's in." Joe said.

"That can't be right." Silver said, sounding annoyed. "The sign said she would be here."

"No one's opening the door." Joe reasoned. "Maybe she left again but didn't come back?" Silver pushed past him and stepped up to the door. The redhead trainer stood in front of the red wood unintimidated. With a single hand he pushed against the door and it swung slowly open. He looked back, away from the internal dark, and looked at Joe with a disappointed face.

"Or maybe it was unlocked all along." He told them. Then he stepped inside. Joe looked at Winter, feeling a little disappointed in his perceptive abilities. Ralph was giving him the same expression, which wasn't helping. They followed after their friend. They were surprised how the lighthouse looked inside. The first floor was basically a waiting room. There was a desk and a row of comfortable looking sofas down the edge of the path towards it. A few potted plants were lying around as well, making the room look a little more organic. The group looked around.

"So now where?" Winter wondered. "Do we just start climbing up?"

"Or we could take the lift." Silver told them, pointing towards the large metal sliding doors at the far right corner. Joe looked at the lift and felt a little uncomfortable. The last time he'd stepped into a lift it had hardly worked. In fact it hadn't taken them any higher than the fifth floor on a twenty-five floor building. But that had been back in Kanto, and they'd been rushing to stop Team Rocket. This time they weren't, at least not yet. Joe rolled his head tiredly.

"Alright." He said. "It should certainly be quicker than climbing the stairs." They walked quickly over to the elevator, pressed the button, waited a while for it to reach them, and then stepped in once the doors had forced themselves open. The lift was surprisingly clean considering this was a publicly visited place. Maybe people here just didn't use the lifts much. And thankfully this one worked. Joe couldn't explain how relieved he was at that. It was a bit of a squeeze to fit all of them in, especially Ralph who took up the most space of all of them. But also rather thankfully the lift was quick at getting to the top of the building. When it stopped the doors drew themselves open again and the four of them squeezed out, nearly falling to the floor as they did so. Each one of them inhaled and then exhaled thankfully. Being so cramped had made it tough to breath in such a small area.

"Next time we take the stares." Joe decided, cracking his back from stiffness of standing so far back against the lift wall. The others nodded in a conjoined agreement.

"What floor are we one?" Winter asked. They looked around.

"Floor 5" Silver told her, spotting a sign on the wall by the lift. "But this isn't the roof. We must be one floor below." He was right about this floor not being the roof. The main thing giving it away was that there wasn't a huge rotating lamp at the centre, looking out through a surrounding glass wall and roof. This room was barren, except for a few crates of anything lying around and a few pieces of machinery tinkered with and put aside for use never. The floor and walls here were made of a dirty grey stone. Evidently this part of the building was less well kept then the first floor had been. Maybe all the floors after looked like this. After all this area was probably not intended for visits.

"So where do we go up from?" Joe wondered as he looked around. Then he spotted a small stairway at the far right of the wall, curving upwards with it through the roof. "Actually, that might be it." He said, pointing at the stairs. His friends followed his point.

"Well come on then." Winter told them. "We are on a tight schedule, so let's get up there." They walked at a fast pace to the stairs and climbed them, making it up to the roof finally. When they stepped into the room they were hit immediately by a bright blast of light into the face. Instinctively the four of them covered their eyes. The glare was blinding, even with their eyes protected. But as soon as it had hit them it passed over, its white shadow disappearing to the right of their vision. They opened their eyes again and realised where they were. They were in the glass roof of the light house, and spinning around at its centre was a huge electric lamp of pointed yellow light. Around it, at least six feet away, each side, from the base of the light, was a four foot tall brick wall, supposedly to allow the workers up here to hide behind it rather than be blinded constantly by the light. But the area seemed deserted. In fact the whole building seemed that way. There had been only one worker at the counter when they'd come in and they hadn't seen anyone else since that floor. But that didn't matter too much. The gym leader wasn't here, so this had all been worthless.

"Well, we made it up here at least." Silver muttered, trying to sound upbeat. A face suddenly popped around the side of the small wall.

"Who are you three?" It asked, seeming surprised. "And what are you doing up here?" Joe and his friends took a set in surprise. The girl staring at them from behind the wall blinked. Her long brown hair was flowing like a river down her back and towards the floor. At the top of her hair she had two pointed buns of hair held up by a fancy set of hair bands with red baubles attacked. She seemed maybe a little older than them just by her face alone.

"W-we just came up here to find the gym leader." Joe said quickly, seeming a little flustered. The girl looked at him. Then she stood up. For a teenage girl she was pretty tall for her age, standing just a bit taller than Joe, even without the buns in her hair. She was also really thin. He arms were like white sticks. She was wearing a long green armless dress with frill rims and a knee long skirt on it. She seemed completely ordinary. So what she announced next was a rather big surprise.

"Well you found me." She told them. "So how can I help you? I suppose you came to battle me at the gym, right." Joe blinked.

"You're the gym leader then?" He asked. The girl nodded.

"My names Jasmine." She told him. "And I'm sorry, as much as I'd love to battle you I can't right now. I have to attend to the lighthouse."

"Aren't you a bit young to be working here?" Winter asked. Jasmine looked back at her, having turned away to head back around the wall.

"I lived here all my life." Jasmine told her. This is my home. I learned a lot about working a lighthouse just by watching my parents. I know how to work the light and how to keep it going over night." She explained in a simple unemotional tone. "But I don't usually work it anymore. I just come up here every day to take care of my friend." The three trainers looked at her.

"And who would your friends be?" Silver asked, looking like he was expecting her to turn out to be insane. The girl looked behind her, back at the wall she had been behind. She gestured for them to follow and they did. She took them behind and knelt down beside something curled up and yellow.

"Amphy, we have some visitors." She whispered to it. The yellow curl moved suddenly, stretching out and lifting up its small head. It looked up at the new trio, and they looked back. Ly on the ground, looking as ill as death was a large yellow woolless humanoid sheep. It had a rather long neck with small arms and strong legs. A long tail curled slightly behind it with thin black striped on its skin, and on the end was a large red ball that glowed with an electrical tint. On its forehead was a smaller ball of the same design. The pokémon closed its eyes and breathed heavily. Jasmine rubbed its forehead soothingly. "This is ampharos." She explained. "He runs the lighthouse and keeps the light going." Joe looked down at it.

"This place is run by a pokémon?" He asked.

"No." Jasmine chuckled. "He just keeps the light working." She looked down at her friend. "But he's recently gotten very sick, so he can't do it anymore." She stroked Ampharos's forehead. His skin burned like a ravaging fire. Ampharos coughed a couple of times. "He needs a special kind of medicine to make him better." Jasmine continued, explaining the details as if to an errand boy. "But sadly it's all the way across the sea, on the other shore to the west, in cianwood city. I'd go get it myself but I don't wish to leave Amphy here alone, in case he gets worse." Jasmine suddenly looked up at the three of them, a keep and excited expression glinting on her face. Joe sighed. He knew that expression. He knew what was coming next. He only wished that he didn't see it so often. "Hey. Since you three want access to the gym, do you think you could possibly do me a big favour?" She asked. Joe exhaled again. Like the non-ending of the world, he had predicted it completely, one hundred percent, correctly. He smiled at the gym leader, then followed up with a heavy hearted nod.

"We can certainly do that for you." He told her. He turned around and whispered to his friends "Arceus knows we do it for everyone else." Winter nodded slightly with agreement. Jasmine smiled gratefully at them.

"Thank you so much." She told them. "You'll need to surf over Whirl Ocean to get to cianwood. That shouldn't take much more than an hour. I believe there's a medicine shop by the beach there, that's where you'll get the medicine from. I'd watch out for Chuck, though. He's the gym leader over there." She winced. "He has a habit of going out and finding trainers to battle, so you might run into him. Once he sees you're a trainer he'll battle you no matter what you tell him, then and there, no second to breath. He won't even listen if you tell him you came there to grab medicine for me." She rolled her eyes. "If you want to get back here quick then, for the love of Arceus, keep your eyes open for a large muscular man with a long moustache in ripped shorts." Silver gulped, pulling a horse face. He didn't like the sound of this gym leader over the sea.

"Thanks for that warning." He muttered. "And this guys a gym leader?" He asked. Jasmine nodded. Silver's hand slapped onto Joe's shoulder. "If he sees us you can fight him!" He said simply, seeming surprisingly cowardly for once in his life. Joe looked at Silver, actually shocked. He saw Winter giving him the exact same expression that was on his own face.

"Some tough trainer you are." Winter said, looking pitifully at him. Silver grumbled at her. Then a thought struck him.

"Hang on, what do we get out of this?" He asked. Jasmine looked a little surprised by his question.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Silver coughed.

"W-well, you ask us to go get something, clearly stating there was a danger to the task. There's this Chuck guy in Cianwood who's likely to fight us if he sees us, which will take up a lot of time if he does. Plus there's the chance of us drowning on the way there and we're liable to get tired and be confronted by many wild pokémon, most likely a shoal of tentacool with their nasty poisonous stingers. So what's the compensation we get out of this?" Jasmine was a little taken aback by his question. Then she gave him an answer.

"Well, I said I'd battle you in the gym if you want once you bring the medicine back." She told him.

"Something more than that." Silver told her. "So we get to battle you? My friend Joe here's battled four other gym leaders already, so that shouldn't be too much of a reward for him. What more material can you give us?"

"Silver!" Winter snapped, speaking like an angry mother scolding her child for saying something impolite. Jasmine shrugged the comment of and told him.

"I can give you a gym badge." She explained simply. "The kind you need to get into the indigo plateau. Also, if you come back with the medicine, I can hand you a TM or two." She smiled sweets. "I know that's not much either, but it's the best I have. I don't have that much money to give out." Silver looked outraged now.

"Not much money?" He asked loudly. "You're a gym leader! You should be flowing in cash! You should have a Scrooge McDuck style swimming pool filled with dollars! What the hell do you mean you're skint?!" Winter took Silver by the shoulders and shoved him aside, smiling embarrassedly at Jasmine.

"I am so sorry about him." She said in a desperately apologetic tone. She chuckled nervously. "He-he's an idiot!" She clenched her teeth, glaring out the corner of her eyes at the hurt Silver. "A big, big, idiot!" Jasmine waved an understanding hand in a wiping motion.

"Don't worry about it." She told her. "I see lots of trainers like him all the time. I'm not surprised." Silver muttered something profane, and Winter shoved him again.

"We'll take your offer." She told the gym leader, still looking very embarrassed. "And we'll do the task for you." She glared back at Silver. "And we'll do it at double the speed." Silver groaned louder.

"Thank you." Jasmine told them. "Just come back as quickly as possible. I fear Ampharos might get worse, and if he does I don't know if the medicine will even do anything to help." Joe nodded to her.

"We'll get you that medicine." He promised her. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. "We'll be back before the day ends." He added. "And that's a promise."

* * *

The three trainers hurried back down the steps into the floor below again. There they stopped and spoke for a second. They knew what Jasmine had asked them to do, and they knew how to get there. What they were sorting out now was how long they had to do it.

"We should get going as soon as possible." Joe told them. "If we want to get it for her today then we should be heading of now, otherwise it's going to be dark by the time we get there."

"Yeah, but it's likely to be dark by the time we come back, too." Silver added. "And, if that's the case, maybe its best we head out in the morning. That way we'll have plenty of time to fetch the medicine." Winter stepped in now.

"Ampharos is really ill." She reminded him. "If we wait a day he might get worse. We should go as soon as possible, and if we go with speed we might manage to get back before night falls." Silver sighed.

"Are neither of you exhausted by the walk and battling we did getting here?" He asked.

"We are." Winter told him. "But this isn't about us. We said we'd help them quickly so that's what we're going to do."

"Well personally I'd like to have a rest." Silver told her, speaking stubbornly yet again. This was the normal Silver again. Joe tapped his foot impatiently.

"You don't have to come with us." Joe told him. "She never said we all had to go. If you don't want to go then we won't make you." A small smile came to the side of his mouth. "Though, if you do, you won't get any of the reward." He added. Silver glared at him.

"I wasn't getting anything before, was I?" He asked spitefully. Joe shrugged.

"I was planning to give you the TM she said she'd give us, but if you don't want it."

"Actually, I think I can manage the ride there and back after all." Silver said suddenly, sounding much more interested now that he'd been promised something in return. That was normal Silver, not giving a damn about anyone else unless he was able to get something from them. Joe smiled wider.

"Good man." He said happily, slapping his hand on Silver's shoulder. "Now let's get going and not weight around here any longer. We only have so long before nightfall now."

"If it's alright, I'd like to take the stares this time." Winter spoke up suddenly. They looked at her.

"Why?" Joe asked.

"Because last time, when we came up in the lift, Ralph nearly slashed my arm of with his wing." She complained, giving the hovering purple bat an aggravated glare. Ralph looked embarrassed. He smiled apologetically back. Joe shrugged.

"Alright." He agreed. "But it'll take a bit longer." He shrugged. "What the hell. We probably need the exercise anyway." He joked.

"You might." Silver muttered disrespectfully.

"Silver, if you don't stop being annoying I'm going to swirly you in the nearest toilet." Winter warned him. The threat came as a surprise to Silver. For one thing she wasn't allowed in the mens toilets. "Who said I'd do it in the mens!" Winter added, seeing his face. Silver gulped. That would be embarrassing.

Joe walked quickly over to the hatch at the other end of the room. He had assumed that it was the hatch to the ladder down to the bottom floor, and he'd assumed right. For one thing the ladder ends were sticking through the wooden door, which had two circular holes for them to go through. And when Joe lifted the hatch up he looked back down through a large square hole and saw the fourth floor below him. He waved the others over.

"Well, you found a ladder." Silver said, faking being impressed. "Who's going down first?" Joe shrugged. "Me, I guess." He told him.

"I can go down first, if you want." Winter spoke up suddenly. "I'll go down and make sure the ladder can take me, then call you both down after." Joe was surprised she was offering to go down first. It wasn't like they were in an unknown cave trying find the way out. They were in a manmade building. There shouldn't need to be someone offering to climb down a floor for you. But she was, and Joe couldn't just turn down her offer. It would've been rude.

"Uh, okay." He told Winter, seeming confused. "Go ahead." Silver snickered as Winter prepped herself onto the conjoined branches of wood and began climbing down the ladder.

"Overly polite." He mocked them. Joe rolled his eyes at him. Then he realised something.

"How are we going to get Ralph down?" He asked. Silver, Winter and Ralph looked at him confused, so Joe continued to explain. "He's too big to fit through this hole, especially with the ladder here. So how do we get him down?" They looked at Ralph now, who was looking rather embarrassed by his size. He tried to squeeze his stomach in, only to find his stomach was in the same place as his ribs. Crobat anatomy really was a weird thing, especially considering they had no legs. Joe's two friends seemed to think for a second. Then Silver came up with the smartest idea of his life.

"Why don't you and he go in the lift?" He said. Joe hadn't thought of that. He could do that. There'd be more room if there were just the two of them in there. Silver and Winter could go via the ladder while Joe used the lift to get the bottom floor faster.

"Good idea." Joe said. Silver smiled proudly. Joe realised how weird it was saying that. Silver? Good ideas? The two could never mix. It was like putting oil in water, one would go straight over the others head. But for now they seem to have mixed, though only god knows how. Joe coughed unconsciously. "Well then." He said stiffly. "Me and Ralph will get in the elevator and see you back on the ground floor. You two have fun climbing down ladders, cos we're taking the snake." Again Joe's joke went unheard, probably because it was utter crap, but what could you do? With the silence that follows a poor comedian he stood up and stepped away, walking away from the hatch and towards the lift, putting his arm around Ralph as he passed and pulling him with him. "Let's go, buddy." He said. Ralph grumbled in confusion. They stepped into the lift and the doors shut in front of them. Silver and Winter began their climb down to the lower floor.

When they reached the fourth floor then stopped for a rest. It was surprisingly tiring climbing down a ladder. Winter stood with her back straight and breathed in heavily, shaking her arms as she did so to loosen the knotted muscles. Silver walked aside and moaned about his aching wrists.

"One floor down." Winter said, sounding hopeful.

"Three more to go." Silver continued for her. She nodded.

"Well, let's get climbing then." She told him. She turned to head down the next ladder, when suddenly she stopped.

"What is it?" Silver asked. Winter looked back at him. She had a finger over her mouth.

"Be quiet." She hissed. Silver was quiet, though he was questioning why he had to be so.

"What is it?" He hissed back. "Winter looked back at him.

"There's someone else up here." She whispered.

"What?" Silver asked.

"You heard." She snapped quietly. "We aren't alone."

"How do you know that?" He asked. Suddenly he heard a shuffling coming from behind a large pile of boxes. He froze. "Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Yes." Winter told him quickly. Her hand reached for a pokeball. "Wait here." Silver looked worried.

"Where are you going?" He asked concerned, not for her but for himself.

"To check it out." Winter hissed back. She crept slowly forwards towards the boxes. From behind them she could hear a slow hissing movement, as if a faulty valve was leaking gas. She crept closer and closer, but the closer to the boxes she got the quieter the sound got. Finally she was in front of them. She waited, but now there was no sound coming from behind it at all. "Where did it go?" She whispered to herself. Carelessly she decided to move a few of the boxes. She took a hold of the one in front of her and slowly, carefully lifted it from the pile and put it beside her. Another box was behind it. She took another and moved it, then another and another. Silver watched in constant anticipation. He was expecting something to happen suddenly and out of nowhere. These events always happened in tense moments like this. Winter moved another box. And then she heard it again. A quiet his of escaping gas. It didn't sound metallic, like it was coming from a pipe. It sounded like it was coming from something's mouth. She moved a final box, the one that was directly on top of the sound. And when she looked back into the whole she saw a koffing. It saw her and began to inflate. Winter's eyes widened. She immediately turned and tried to run. But the koffing had already been prepared for this. The resulting explosion was huge. Bits of box flew across the entire room in shards and chunks. Winter was flung several metres back, nearly hitting the far wall. She rolled backwards and landed on her spine, wincing painfully. Silver gulped, wide eyed. The debris the explosion had left was so minimal. There was only a blackened wall, a now deflated unconscious koffing and a room full of wooden pieces, sawdust and splinters.

"Winter!" Silver exclaimed, terror and surprise overwhelming his voice to breaking point. He reached a pitch that, until this point, he had never even managed to touch. "Are you okay?" Winter groaned and lifted her head up.

"G-god d-damn!" She groaned. "That… That hurt!" She rubbed the back of her head, feeling a nasty bruise coming up where she'd hit it. There was a sudden quiet chortling coming from nearby.

"Hehe. I'm sorry I had to do that to you." The voice said. "But I wanted you to be weakened when you came to battling me." The two trainers looked around suddenly. There, by the hatch to the third floor, was the purple haired rocket commander they'd faced on route 35. He had a large maliciously cunning grin on his face and a sinister glint in his older eyes. Petrel stood up onto his lanky legs, causing the floor to creak slightly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Silver demanded, reaching for one of his pokeballs. Petrel's eyes followed his hand.

"I came here for you two." He told them simply. "You and your friend have been causing a lot of problems for us. We need you out of the way, you see. So here I am to fulfil that task. Hopefully I'll do better than my colleague did."

"Yeah, I bumped into him earlier." Winter said, glaring spitefully at the commander. She smiled nastily. "I also sent him running." She warned him. "And I'll do the same here if I have to." Petrel simply laughed at her.

"You underestimate me." He warned her. "I'm not Proton. I don't make rookie mistakes. I already blew you up, so clearly you aren't up to my league."

"What about the both of us!" Silver shouted at him suddenly, unclipping a pokeball and gripping it in his hand, staring intimidatingly at the commander. Petrel looked at him, his eyes coldly judging.

"That's cute, kid." He said cruelly. "You three may have been able to stop me last time, but you had your friend do most of the battling. Now he's not here, is he? It's just the two of you now. How strong are you both really? Stronger than me?" He scoffed. "Not likely. As second of the four Rocket commanders I am no stranger to battles. Neither of you stand a chance alone."

"Then battle us both!" Silver argued. "If you're so certain you're better than us, battle us both… at the same time." Winter was looking at Silver. He was being surprisingly heroic considering this was a Rocket Commander threatening them, and probably one of the higher up ones. Petrel sneered down his nose at them. Then he waved a hand.

"Fine." He agreed. "If you insist, I will fight you both." He phrased his eyebrows into slits. "At the same time." He added. Silver helped Winter onto her feet as Petrel unclipped two pokeballs. "You win, you go free and I'll chase you another day." He began stating. His eyes squinted more sinisterly now. "I win, you both come back with me. Archer would really like to meet you both. Maybe he could show his large collection of knives and brass knuckles he keeps in his draw." Winter glared at the commander.

"Deal." She said.

"What?" Silver asked suddenly, surprised that she was agreeing. If she lost, then the rocket boss would get to beat the living light out of her. Petrel smiled.

"Good." He growled. He flicked his wrists and the two pokeballs flew from his hands, opening up with two flashes of light and releasing two dumb looking koffings. "Let's get started." Winter unclipped a pokeball, as did Silver.

"Work with me." Winter whispered to him. "If we work together we can defeat him. Don't do anything reckless."

"Since when have I ever done anything like that?" Silver asked.

"All the time!" Winter hissed back. Silver looked hurt. Reluctantly he unclipped his first pokeball and held it in his hands. Winter threw her pokeball, releasing Mar out to battle. Silver flicked out his, releasing Totodile to fight. Petrel grinned to himself.

"Excellent." He whispered. "Killing two birds with one stone. This will be fun."

* * *

The lift finally reached the ground floor after a short descent, the metal doors sliding open as it slid a halt and Joe and Ralph stepping out uncomfortably. He was back in the entrance lobby again, except this time it looked even emptier. The counter worker had left at some point clearly, as there was no one at it nor did anyone walk in to work at it. No one even walked into the building at all while Joe was there. Knowing that his friends were going to take longer getting downstairs because they were using the ladders he decided to wait patiently for them. He knew that it would take them probably around five minutes to get down. But when he found himself standing around for more than ten minutes he started to get worried. He looked to Ralph, who had a suspecting expression on his face. He was looking back at the stairway behind them, his eyes squint and glaring. Joe hummed concerned.

"Where are they?" He asked aloud.

* * *

"Koffing, use tackle! Koffing use smokescreen" Petrel instructed. His commands were rather confusing for Winter and Silver. He was using two koffings, so which one he'd instructed, they couldn't tell. The koffings themselves however seemed to understand very well. The left koffing flew forwards with a strong burst of repelling gas, aiming to tackle mar with the side of its body. The right koffing swelled up, small whiffs of smoke escaping from its many orifices. When t exhaled, it pushed a large cloud of thick black smoke out of its body, sending it floating quickly over to Totodile.

"Move out the way quick!" Silver instructed. Totodile jumped to the left, however, he hadn't understood the command properly. Silver had told him to move out of the way of the smokescreen, whereas Totodile had perceived it as 'Move out of the way of Mar', who had been right next to him. While this move was a little tactful for Mar as now he wasn't getting shrouded in darkness, but it didn't do Totodile much good. The smokescreen still hit him. The small blue crocodile coughed and spluttered as non-fatal smoke caught in his lungs.

"Mar, use rollout on left side koffing!" Winter called. She had picked up on the strategy to commanding her pokémon in this case. Because Petrel was using two pokémon of the same species at the same time she'd have to explain which one she wanted Mar to go for. So she's referred to the koffing on the left as the 'left side' koffing. Now Mar knew who his target was, and fortunately that target was already moving in to attack. Mar rolled up into a ball and sped forwards, striking the koffing from below and causing it to spin upwards out of control. Then it landed again and deflated, its eyes going crossed as it fell into unconsciousness. "Mar, roll back in and attack the other one!" Winter continued. Mar stopped moving but not spinning, turned on the spot and sped off towards the right side koffing now, that was still pumping smoke. He hit this one in the side and set it flying into the wall, where it popped with a large burst of black smoke. The smoke faded away quickly to reveal this koffing also lying unconscious now. Totodile finally managed to wave away the smoke, only to see that his battle had already been won. He groaned annoyed.

"You'll get the next one." Silver told him. Totodile smiled hopefully back at him. Petrel withdrew his pokémon, looking righteously annoyed. He knew his koffing were just there as cannon fodder to weaken them, but they shouldn't have been that easing to fight. However, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. He unclipped another two pokeballs.

"Don't think I'm done yet." He warned them. Then he released the pokeballs. Another two koffing appeared onto the battlefield. Winter and Silver were surprised. They'd expected a rocket commander to use more than one species of pokémon, but apparently not. This guy had five of them, and it was likely that his sixth one was a koffing too. He gleamed a little, the sun through the windows catching his teeth. "Koffing, use tackle!" He commanded. His smile grew much wider now. "Koffing…" He began. "Use self-destruct…" He paused, glaring Winter in the eyes. "On Azumarill." He finished. Winter's eyes widened. Which one had he instructed to do that? If she didn't act quickly then Mar would be blown up. Both koffings began to move forward now, both heading for Mar. Mar looked worried. He didn't know what to do.

"Keep them back with bubblebeam!" Winter told him. Mar began spewing a large collection of frothy bubbles from his mouth, sending them towards the two koffings. The attack hit and it slowed them down, but it didn't keep them back. The two koffings kept coming. Silver could see the real danger she was in now, too. He turned to totodile.

"We need to help them." He told it. Totodile nodded back in agreement. Silver pointed at one of the koffings. "Bring it down with bite!" He instructed. He knew sadly that, if this was the exploding one, the attack would probably cause it to blow up, knocking out Totodile in the process. But if that saved Mar and Winter then it was worth it. Totodile jumped from foot to foot then ran head up and jaws open at the koffing on the right. He jumped and lunged towards it, clamping his jaws down on the tough skin. Silver prepared for the inevitable. The koffing closed its eyes, swelled up… and suddenly deflated. Silver looked on in horror. He'd attacked the wrong one. All this one had done was feint. He looked hopelessly at the other koffing, which had just reached its destination, three feet away from Mar. Koffing began to swell up. "Oh no." Silver moaned, really disappointed in himself. Winter stepped backwards, as did Mar, the two of them trying to get away, but it was already too late. With a sudden rupture of light the koffing exploded, sending the two of them flying backwards. Totodile was knocked over onto his back with the force. Even Silver was hit by it. He shielded his face as he struggled to stay on his feet. The whole building shook violently. The only one who wasn't affected by it was Petrel, who just laughed maliciously at their misfortune.

"That certainly taught you." He said nastily, laughing a little. Silver glared at him. This man was pure evil, nothing better. He was so horrible that he was laughing at a girl getting injured. Silver looked back at Winter. She was lying a few feet back, covered in black soot. She was breathing still, but she wasn't moving. Mar lay next to her, also not moving. Hopefully he was okay too. Silver glared back at the commander who had just withdrawn his koffing, a big smile on his face. A nasty snarl grew on Silver's face. He turned to face him again. His palms clenched.

"You didn't need to do that." He growled. "You could have played fare, you could have been honest. But instead you blew her up." He glared at the purple haired man. "What is wrong with you? What is wrong with all of you, all of Team Rocket?" Petrel simply smiled a little.

"Getting confident now, are we?" He asked coldly. He reached for his final pokeball, holding it between both his hands "When did I say I'd play fair?" He asked simply. Silver continued to glare at him.

"You could have been more respectful." He told him. Petrel laughed.

"This is a pokémon battle, kid." He said simply. "It doesn't need to be respectful, it just needs to be quick and efficient." He readied the pokeball. "And that's what I am." He said. He threw the pokeball. "Quick and efficient!"

* * *

Joe looked up sharply. The roof was shaking. In fact the entire building was shaking. There was a huge bang sound from above. Bits of wood dust and plaster fell from the ceiling, raining on Joe and Ralph lightly. Then the movement stopped. Everything fell quiet again. It was almost as if nothing had happened. Joe and Ralph looked at each other.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Joe asked. Ralph shrugged.

"Cro." He said back, just as confused as his companion. Joe looked up again. The roof was a little damaged, but not anything close to badly. There were a few small spots of missing plaster, but nothing a good cleaner couldn't fix. His eyes moved to the stairs again. Winter and Silver had been taking forever, he realised suddenly. Where were they? His mind put two and two together with a short spark of intelligence that doesn't live long in teenagers. His expression suddenly became very aware and very concerned. He looked up at the ceiling. Nothing. No sound nor movement nor anything.

"Oh my god." He whispered. Ralph looked at him, confused. Joe looked back at him. "We need to get up there." Joe told him quickly. He ran for the stairs. Ralph watched him, looking confused.

"Cro?" He asked. Joe waved him over.

"Silver and Winter are in trouble." He shouted. "We need to go help them."

* * *

Silver was in very real trouble now. Petrel had proven to not just be strong but also very cunning. He didn't have six coughing for no reason after all. They all appeared to have different moves and strategies, allowing for a more efficient battle. He had already proved that by using a koffing with smokescreen and a two koffing with self-destruct. This was the second time in less than an hour Winter had been blown up, except the second one had been more hazardous. Now Silver was staring down the commander's sixth pokémon, and this one certainly wasn't a koffing, although it did look like on. This koffing was twice the size with two heads, one bigger than the other. On the big one's chest was a white skull and crossbones. The heavy hulking weezing grumbled and spewed toxic gas from its mouths. Silver gulped. Totodile did the same. Petrel was laughing manically now.

"Haha haha hahahahahahahaHa!" He laughed so hard he sent spittle flying about everywhere. "You asked for this." He shouted evilly. "Now you get to meet my strongest pokémon." He grinned widely. "Have fun." He pointed a finger. "Weezing, sludge bomb!" He roared. Weezing's mouth expanded as copious amounts of toxic liquid filled up inside.

"Dodge!" Silver commanded quickly. Totodile jumped aside as Weezing spat the attack. The pile of bile landed on the floor and corroded it away slightly. "Bite!" Silver continued. Totodile knelt down and jumped, lunging jaws open at the hovering koffing.

"Tackle!" Petrel yelled. Weezing sped in to meet Totodile. The bulky purple creature struck Totodile in the chest as he went in to attack, causing the small blue crocodile to fall backwards out of the air. "Again!" Petrel roared. Weezing flew towards Totodile, trying to push it back. So Totodile did the only thing he could. Push back. The small reptile ran at Weezing and rammed his forehead into its chest, somehow managing to not only stop it but keep it stopped. Silver and Petrel both watched in amazement as the two pokémon used their full strength to push the other back. Somehow they were at an impasse of power. Silver found his jaw drop a little. He suddenly realised he was shaking a fist and cheering.

"Go Totodile!" He yelled. "You push that weezing back into its hole!" Totodile smiled and pressed harder, moving Weezing back by a whole footstep. Petrel was getting furious now.

"Don't just let it beat you!" He roared. "Take it down! Blow him up if you have to!" Weezing grumbled angrily. Then, with a sudden burst of strength, it flicked its body and sent Totodile flying backwards. Totodile landed painfully on his side by Silver's feet. The redhead trainer gasped.

"No." He muttered. "Totodile get up!" Petrel laughed again.

"He's done!" He yelled. "You're both done! Give up, kid. I won't make this painful if you do." Silver glared at the commander. He felt a flicker of rage in his heart. He heard movement by his feet, when he looked down and found himself further surprised. Totodile was standing back up again, but now there was something different about him. His eyes were glowing bright red. They were fixed upon the opponent Weezing. Petrel had stopped laughing now. He too was looking at the standing again Totodile, and he was alarmed by the fire he saw behind his eyes. Totodile inhaled and exhaled strongly, his shoulders rising and falling like empires. Then he opened his mouth. The roar he emitted from within his tiny nipping maw was astoundingly loud and surprisingly terrifying. It wasn't a cute innocent raw you may hear from a lion cub. This was the raw of a predator, of a fierce beast trying to drive its prey into running. If Weezing had been wearing pants they would have been soiled. The large multi-joined gas ball floated backwards.

Then Totodile burst into light. Its whole body began to glow and expand. A huge bubble of light engulfed its body and grew outwards, expanding to at least twice the size. Petrel groaned. He knew what was going on. So did Silver. He couldn't believe his luck. His jaw was hanging right open with impossible amazement. It had happened again. This was the fourth pokémon he had that evolved today. The bubble quickly shrunk away again, disappearing inside of Totodile as if it had never existed. And when it was gone Silver's starter pokémon stood in a new body, roaring with a new mouth. Totodile was no longer the small blue reptile he had been. He was no longer cute and charming. Now he was intimidating and hideous. The beast that stood in his place was big and bulky, with two large powerful legs and two short but still viciously sharp clawed arms. It had a bigger, stronger jaw for crushing its prey and cunning vigilant eyes for spotting a target from under murky water. Its stomach was dotted with large yellow circular spots and its back had a long ridge of tall sharp red spines. This monster was a terrifying sight. Totodile was not totodile anymore. That little fella had left forever. Now Croconaw was in town, and he was righteously ticked off. His eyes were still burning red with a fire that water types shouldn't have. Petrel gulped.

"Ah." He said, taking a step back himself now. "I see that you aren't in the mood to mess around anymore." He stuttered, backing away slowly. Croconaw's eyes never let him out of his sight. He was still breathing heavily, looking furiously. He roared again, and then he charged. Weezing gulped as it saw the huge steaming crocodile run at it. "Fight back!" Petrel roared in fear. Weezing flew in to meet Croconaw's attack, but instead of the two stopping each other like they had before, this time Weezing was blasted backwards, the force of Croconaw's rage proving much more powerful. Silver found himself smiling.

"Go on To… Croconaw!" He cheered. "Crush that large ball of gas. Croconaw squared up to Weezing, his eyes still blazing. Weezing stared back, terrified. Croconaw pulled his head back, then slammed it down onto Weezing's skull. For Weezing all the lights went out instantly. Petrel stared in horror. It had all gone so wrong, so quickly. He looked at Silver who was smiling cunningly. Petrel stepped away, withdrawing Weezing as he did so.

"I…" He muttered, his mouth wobbling a bit with fear. He gulped. "You'll see me again." He warned finally. "I can promise you that!" The commander's head shot to the opened archway which lead to a long stone balcony. Then, with no warning, he was running towards it. Croconaw ran after him and Silver hurried after it. But they weren't fast enough. By the time they had set foot on the balcony Petrel had thrown himself from it. Silver looked over the edge, expecting to see the commander plummeting to his death. But he saw no sign of him. There was nothing, not even a slight whoosh of sound. It was as if the man had never existed in the first place. Croconaw cursed, his eyes fading from red back into the normal white. Silver looked at his pokémon. Croconaw looked back at him. Then the two embraced, laughing like maniacs.

"You utter beast!" Silver laughed, hugging his pokémon tight. "I knew you'd evolve sooner or later! Great job dealing with the commander guy by the way!" Croconaw nuzzled Silver's shoulder. Sadly Silver couldn't stay holding him for long. Totodile had gotten a lot heavier when he evolved. Croconaw weight like a sack of bricks. Back inside they heard the sound of a hatch moving. They looked back inside, their feet firmly on the ground again, to see the hatch from the floor below being pushed open. A well-recognised figure climbed his way up. Joe climbed up of the ladder and knelt on the floor, breathing heavily. He had just climbed three floors, and it hadn't been easy.

"I… heard the explosion." He huffed. "What… what happened here? What's keeping you both so…" He saw Winter lying unconscious with Mar on the other side of the room. A second later Joe was up and running to them, clear concern in his eyes. "Oh my god!" He exclaimed, getting his breath back suddenly. "Winter! Winter, are you okay!" He knelt by the girls side and rolled her over onto her back. Her eyes were closed and her face was covered in black dust. Joe placed an ear above her mouth. He could feel the slight whisper of a breath. She was still alive, just unconscious. He put his hands on her shoulders and shook her slightly, trying to bring her back into consciousness. "Wake up!" He muttered desperately. "Winter, wake up!" Winter coughed slightly. Then she burst into racking spasms, choking and spluttering as she suddenly sat up. Joe pulled his head back, giving her space. "You're okay!" He said, impossibly grateful that she was. Winter nodded.

"Just barely." She managed to say. She rubbed the back of her head, which was aching like a drunken drumming monkey was banging away at the back of it. She squinted her eyes and rubbed them. "That… hurt!" She muttered painfully. Joe smiled.

"At least you're in one piece." He said, smiling back at her. She tried to smile at him but her jaw was stiff and sore. Mar was beginning to move again now. The young azumarill lifted his head up to look at his former trainer and his current trainer, his ears flopping over his face and his eyes tired and pained. "What happened here?" Joe asked finally. Silver coughed, and Joe turned to face him. Silver stepped in from the balcony, Croconaw following after him.

"Uh, it's a little weird to explain." He began. Joe immediately became concerned simply by those few words. Weird was not a good sign when it came to their adventures. Weird things were often bad things. "You see." Silver continued. "We were climbing down to meet you on the bottom floor, when suddenly these boxes started hissing. Winter went over to investigate and then they blew up. Then one of the rocket commanders came along and tried to kidnap us. I had to fight him of by myself, as Winter was already unconscious by this point. It wasn't easy but I did finally win and then he ran for it. That's… that's basically what happened." Silver finished his version of the story. It wasn't exactly one-hundred percent truthful, but it was close enough. Winter rubbed her eyes.

"You managed to chase him of by yourself?" She asked, sounding as impressed as she could at this point. Getting blow up tended to make it tough to feel strong emotions for a while after waking up. The most you could feel was 'Ow' and 'Finally, Relief!'. Silver nodded, trying to pump up his own ego.

"Yep." He told them. Joe didn't look convinced. Then he noticed Totodile, or rather Ex-Totodile.

"What is that?" He asked. Silver looked down.

"Oh yeah." He added, acting like he'd forgotten to mention something minor. "Totodile evolved." He told them. "He's Croconaw now." Croconaw crossed his arms and tilted his head like he was wearing a pair of cool sunglasses on the end of his snout. Joe internally groaned. That was the fourth of Silver's pokémon to evolve… in one day, as well! How was he doing this? Next thing he knew he'd have a team of legendary pokémon at his side. And if that ever happened Joe decided he was going to quit on the spot. What's the point of being a trainer if your rival has legendary pokémon at his call?

"That's… great." He said, not sounding actually impressed or happy, but more god awfully annoyed. He stood up again, wiping the wood dust from his knees. "Well, if you two are okay, let's get going again." He decided suddenly. Winter and Silver looked at him.

"Uh, Joe." Silver butted in quickly. "We might want to go to the hospital. Winter and Mar could be pretty badly hurt." Joe blinked.

"Of course." He said. He looked at Winter. "Are you okay to move?" He asked.

"I think so." She said back, trying to stand to her feet. She wobbled a bit but Joe helped her up. She withdrew Mar as quickly as she could.

"Good." Joe continued. "Do you need to see a doctor?"

"I think I might be okay." She told him. "I just need some space and fresh air." She stumbled forwards a little and Joe helped her move.

"Okay then." He decided. "Let's get going, or we're going to be late on our errand deadline." He headed with Winter for the ladder.

"Where's Ralph, by the way?" Winter asked. Joe looked at her.

"Oh, he's waiting downstairs." He explained. "Turns out he can't fit through the ladder holes here, so he said he'd wait.

"I'm sure he was happy about that." Winter joked. Joe smiled back.

"Yeah, I think he was." He joked back.

Silver watched the two of them help each other walk to the open hatch. He looked at Croconaw who smiled back stupidly. Silver found himself cracking a smile too. The two of them followed after their friends, ignoring the hand which was hanging from the edge of the balcony and slowly pulling itself back up.


	19. Chapter 19: Under Whirl Ocean

**One hours prior to chapter 18…**

Danning took his seat in the jeep. Their selected group of grunts was getting ready to head out another mission, except this one was of high importance. They hadn't told him why yet, but it had to be something big. Danning sat in quiet, watching as his fellow grunts climbed aboard and took their own seats away and beside him. He didn't look at them. His head was too soaked in thought. He looked up to see a tall redheaded commander step into the front seat of the jeep. She slammed the door closed and looked back at the rows of men in the back. She had a stern, controlling, vicious expression, like a bulldog that had been given pretty good plastic surgery but had failed to improve its attitude. She glared at each one of the grunts in turn, her eyes eventually falling on Danning. He covered his face. When she was done she adjusted her collar and spoke up.

"Alright, boys!" She said royally and affirmatively. Her voice seemed to be layered in a coating of sugar, but underneath she sliced a hidden dagger of sternness and vile. She crossed her arms and smiled grandly. "We're going for one thing and one thing only. Archer's asked us to grab a being of vital importance, so that's what we're going for." She clapped her hands and rubbed them eagerly. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to catch a legendary!" There was a resounding cheer of excitement from the grunts. The only one who didn't seem to cheer along was Danning. He looked at his commander, an overwhelming fear of dread in his heart. They were going to chase down a legendary. The consequences of doing so could be catastrophic. He only hoped that, for his sake, they succeeded. He didn't even know which one they were going for. The redheaded commander saw him sitting there, quietly looking at her. Her face became spitefully concerned, but not for him. Arrogantly she turned back around and looked at the driver. "Drive us out." She instructed. The driver nodded with a 'yes ma'am.' The jeep engine roared into life, booming just above the roar of the grunts, who were really eager to get going already.

Danning sat wallowing in self-pity. He looked up as his eyes wandered out through the windows. And there he saw Crystal, standing in the garage, looking a little lost. Behind her a jeep full of grunts was being evacuated. Her group had just come back from their mission then, but from the looks on their faces it appears they hadn't been successful in the slightest. The girl looked up and saw Danning looking back through the jeep window. For a second their expressions read onto each other. They saw what the other was thinking through their stare and frown alone. Crystal was still angry, but now she was also depressed. Really depressed. The emotions were bouncing around her face like reflective basketballs. Something had happened on her mission. Or she'd done something. Danning didn't have a chance to ask. The second he considered stepping out and doing so the jeep began to move. The bulky vehicle holding more than ten grunts and one commander began rolling out, reaching a speed of zero to thirty in under three seconds. Crystal watched them go as she saw Danning's face vanish as the sun hit the window and reflected its light. He was gone. The jeep rolled out, disappearing through the open door and rolling out into the wilderness again.

Crystal watched it drive away. She stayed standing in the garage for a while longer, her head in thought. Where was her friend going? What was the commander who had taken his group planning? And why were they doing this now. Crystal decided not to worry herself out with this. Instead she just decided to get going. She was tired, she was upset, she was angry and she wanted to sleep. She'd find Silver another day, or at least she'd try to.

* * *

 **Present time…**

Joe stepped back out into the seaside air. The cold oceanic breeze was welcoming in comparison to the sweltering heat inside the lighthouse and buildings of the city. The sun was fading behind the horizon, as it covered the land with a growing purple tinge. Slowly he yawned. He was getting tired from all the walking and traveling they had done, and the climbing up and down ladders and stairs and lifts wasn't making him feel any more awake. And now he was about to travel across an ocean. He rubbed his face, trying to wake himself a bit more and get his muscles moving again. He heard a rustle of wings behind him, and turned to see Ralph flying out through the open door. He also looked tired, but less so. Ralph, being a nocturnal creature, would have no trouble seeing as it got darker. Normally he wouldn't even be tired by this point. But the whole group had been traveling for the whole day, since they'd woken up that morning and toured around Ecruteak with Tom. Even flying around was getting tiring, and he was about to do a lot more of that. Joe smiled at him. Ralph smiled confidently back.

"Stay awake, buddy." Joe muttered cheerfully. "We're about to do a lot more traveling." Ralph groaned and rolled his eyes. He had already known where they were going, but he still wasn't happy about it. Joe patted him on the shoulder. "I know." He said, chuckling. "I'm not happy either, but we may as well get it over with. Besides, we're doing a good deed. We're getting medicine for a sick pokémon. That's something to get us motivated right?" Ralph gave an annoyed groan in response. "Oh stop it." Joe smiled. He turned back to the steps bellow him. At the bottom of them Silver and Winter sat resting. Winter was still recovering from the blast she'd been hit by, but she was getting quickly better. She was still rather exhausted though, more than him and Silver. It was likely she would fall asleep while they were traveling. Considering that Joe didn't have a water pokémon anymore to get him across the ocean he'd probably have to ride with Winter to keep an eye on her. "Come on." He said, sounding a little more determined and awake now. "Let's get going." He stepped forwards onto the stone steps. When his left foot touched the first step and took his weight he moved his right foot a step further, slowly moving his body downwards towards the beach. As he reached the last few steps he stopped and sat down next to Winter and Silver.

"Finally you get down here." Silver muttered. "Are you and Ralph ready to go now?" He asked grumpily. Joe looked to his starter pokémon. Ralph looked back and nodded conformingly. Joe looked back to Silver.

"I think so." He said. His two friends looked pleased.

"Good." Winter said, looking exhausted and beaten. "I can lend you one of my pokémon to get you across." She reached to her belt and felt a muscle in her side twitch painfully. She winced, pausing in mid reach. Joe watched her concerned.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded painfully, her jaw clenching as the pain subsided again.

"I'll be fine." She told him comfortingly. "I'll be able to keep going. I'll get better as we get moving." Joe nodded but he didn't look like he believed her. She looked exhausted. She clearly needed a rest but she was too stubborn to admit it. She wanted to help, she wanted to do the job she was set and by Arceus she was going to do it.

"Okay." Joe said, exhaling exhaustedly. He was also rather tired, but he knew the stakes. If Ampharos is ill then it can't keep the lighthouse light working, and if the light isn't working then there'll be nothing to bring ships safely in. And if Ampharos gets to ill they may not be able to make it better. They needed to go now and quickly to avoid that scenario. Joe clapped his hands together, rubbing them in the cold air to warm himself up. "Let's go."

They walked as a group to the beach, which was barely a few feet away. They walked slowly so Winter could keep up, but even she was trying to keep a quick pace. They had a deadline after all. They stopped literally at the water's edge, their toes touching the lapping wave's death as it fell to its grave on the higher shore of sand, later to be followed by another that will meet the same fate. The four of them stopped and looked at each other.

"Who's first?" Joe asked. They kept looking at each other. Silver finally nominated himself.

"Croconaw and I will go first." He announced. "Seeing as how you two are so lazy." He added in a quiet whisper to himself. He unclipped a pokeball and released his recently evolved large crocodile onto the beach. Croconaw yawned loudly and tucked up its belly, its stomach rumbling loudly. It smiled hopefully back at Silver with a sinister grin. "You can eat when we get across the water." His trainer told him. Croconaw grumbled and folded his arms, huffing on the spot. Silver stepped past his pokémon, his feet touching the waves. "Come on." He instructed. "We've got some swimming to do." Croconaw flicked his sailed tail, splashing water at Silver's legs. The redhead trainer growled. "Come on now." He muttered annoyed, putting and arm on Croconaw's shoulder. "It's not going to be that bad." Then he pushed the large blue amphibious reptile forwards, causing it to lose its balance. Croconaw struck the water face first, floating as the mass of his stomach made him buoyant. Croconaw gurgled, waving his arms madly. Silver smiled and swung a leg over the reptile's back. "Stop squirming." He muttered, laughing at Croconaw's pathetic struggles. "I'm not that heavy." Croconaw managed to lift his face back out of the water. And when he did he was roaring in surprise. He hadn't expected to be sat on today, especially after having just evolved. Joe, Ralph and Winter all looked at each other, their faced both amused and genuinely shocked. They hadn't expected Silver to shove his own pokémon into the water. Either he'd grown up in a cave, explaining his inability to understand social interaction and acceptable public actions, or he just was rather ignorant. Joe assumed it was both. Silver looked back at them and saw their faces. "What?" He asked.

"You couldn't make him more uncomfortable, could you?" Winter asked rhetorically. Silver frowned at her. He chose to ignore her comment. He patted Croconaw on the shoulder and pointed forwards.

"Mush!" He yelled. Croconaw didn't move. Instead he bobbed up and down in the water, his eyes rolling with pathetic ignorance. Silver looked down at him pokémon and slapped him harder on the shoulder. "Hey, didn't you hear me? Get swimming." He said, louder this time. Croconaw grumbled, causing the water to gurgle around his mouth. His tail flicked slightly and slowly he and Silver began swimming out. "There we go." Silver smiled, patting Croconaw on the side of the neck. "Good boy." Croconaw looked back from the side of his skull. Then he began to bob again, except this time he made one huge splash as he did so. The sudden change in angle forced Silver forwards, causing him to slide across Croconaw's back and have his head land face first in the water. "Whaaa…!" He exclaimed just before the impact. The splash that followed drowned out any other sounds he made, except the short gurgling of surprise. Joe and Winter laughed hysterically. Even Ralph joined in. Silver's disrespect had given him a rather soggy comeuppance. Croconaw lay flat again and Silver sat up, his hear deflated from its original shape and hanging dripping at the sides of his head. He huffed furiously. Then he heard the laughter. He turned a spiteful eye to his friends and companions who were still on the beach and covering their mouths, blushing slightly pink with their laughs. He let out a small growl of disapproval.

"Time for us to join him." Joe said, turning to Winter as he finally calmed down again. It was all well and good laughing at Silver, especially because it was easy, but he had already made it into the water. They were yet to follow him. Winter nodded.

"I'll get Staryu to take us." She told him, reaching for a pokeball. She was able to stand by herself again, so she was already recovering well. But she still looked especially tired. Joe would probably have to steer. She unclipped the pokeball and released it, sending out her five legged starfish pokémon onto the beach. Staryu rotated once then flexed before looking back at its trainer. "It's time to go swimming." Winter told it with a smile. Staryu grunted in understanding and began rolling into the water. She smiled at Joe. "That's how you instruct a pokémon." She told him. They glanced back at Silver, who had now drifted out on Croconaw's back and was struggling to instruct it on what to do. "Not like that." She added. Joe chuckled.

"So I'm riding with you then?" He asked.

"Of course." Winter told him, flashing a smile.

"Can Staryu take both of us?" He asked.

"I certainly hope so." She told him. "I believe it can, but we shall see shan't we." She stepped slowly into the water, the waves lapping at her bare feet. Joe followed after her, keeping his eyes aware in case she happened to fall. She looked like she might do so. But she didn't thankfully. Winter put her arms around Staryu's body, her arms covering Staryu's red jewel and she clung on.. Joe stood next to her, unsure what he was supposed to do. "Take a hold." Winter told him. Joe reached out his arm and grabbed Staryu's leg. He wrapped his other arm around its body, gradually making himself comfortable besides Winter. His arm brushed hers and he pulled away slightly, feeling a prickle of nerves down his spine. She smiled at him. "Alright." She instructed when he finally had a hold of the pokémon. "Staryu, start swimming." Staryu grunted in understanding. Then it fell backwards, its flat body hitting water. The weight took Joe by surprise as he was nearly knocked over. He found himself barely kneeling in the water, trying to keep his hold of the starfish pokémon, and it hadn't even started swimming yet. "Hold on!" Winter warned suddenly. Joe looked at her. What was about to happen that would require doing that? He found out all too soon. A second after she'd warned him Staryu's body began to rotate in the water. Its brown legs began to spin, slowly at first but gradually building speed. Joe looked in shock as the movement became a blur, creating a whirlpool in which he and winter stood. He found himself leaning back, trying to keep his body and arms as far away from the spinning legs as he could as Staryu lay flat on its back, its body rotating like an insane circular saw. Fortunately its legs weren't blades, otherwise Joe and Winter may have lost their arms. Joe felt the quick and light yet surprisingly painful thwacks of the legs striking his skin and the water splashing violently on his sides. The whole world around them seemed like the humungous iris of a hurricane. It felt like they'd touched down in the mouth of the kraken. Then, with barely a warning, they were moving, speeding forward through the ocean blue, creating a waking torrent of water behind them. Joe clung onto Staryu's red jewel for dear life. For a five legged overgrown starfish it was surprisingly quick. Within seconds they had passed Silver and Croconaw's slow meandering, knocking them away with a powerful ripple of water. Silver grunted as he was nearly knocked from Croconaw's back. Croconaw gulped down a large mouthful of sea water, choking a little as he tried to spit it back out. The redheaded trainer watched the other two trainers and Staryu speed of ito the distance at surprising speed. He then saw Ralph pass, flapping his wings rapidly as he sped to catch up with them. Silver chuckled.

"Oh, so that's how you're gonna play?" He asked. He kicked his feet and Croconaw began swimming again, speeding up now to catch up with the quickly making distance Joe and Winter.

It didn't take long for them to slow down again. It turned out Staryu could only spin so fast and so far before it got tired. As it came to slow Ralph caught up with them and saw the two human children barely hanging on for dear life. Both were soaking wet, their bodies mostly under the water, with Joe wearing a rather terrified expression. Winter however looked entertained and rather pumped up by the thrill of it. She kicked her feet a bit, propelling herself closer to Staryu's now not spinning body. She smiled and patted Joe on the shoulder.

"Don't worry." She told him. "You'll get used to it." He looked at her, pure terror in his eyes. She laughed back, her smile growing into a hilarious grin. Silver was catching up with them again, Croconaw's swimming proving to be much slower but still fast enough to just about keep up. He had barely just reached them when Staryu started moving again, this time not swimming but propelling itself forwards with a blasting torrent of water. And Joe and Winter were of again into the distance, Ralph flying after them. Silver groaned and kicked the water.

"God damn it!" He yelled after them. "Wait for me!" He kicked Croconaw's sides, forcing him to speed up and get the two of them moving faster after their friends.

The trio travelled on for a while, swimming either graciously or rather violently through the ocean blue, heading for the opposite shore. In the horizon they began to see mountains. Then a beach became visible at its base, and very faintly behind that they could see buildings. They were getting close to Cianwood finally. Another twenty minutes of swimming or so and they'd be there. Dusk was already falling. The yellow son was dropping like a giant gassy flaming football behind the rigid wall of the mountainous horizon behind them. Darkness was now taking its place, but fortunately it wasn't too dark to see just yet. They still had time.

"We're nearly there." Joe called to his friends. Winter, who was right next to him, nodded in agreement.

"Shouldn't be too long now." She told him. She looked back. "You doing okay back there, Silver?" She asked. The redheaded trainer struggled to balance himself on Croconaw's back. The waves were shaking the two of them about and it was clear Croconaw was getting tired.

"We're good." He called back, holding on tight to his pokémons neck. Croconaw splashed slightly, a tired and annoyed expression on his weighed down face. Winter smiled back then turned back. They continued swimming on. Silver followed them. Then he felt Croconaw slowing down. His swimming began to grow weaker. "Hey, what are you slowing down for?" He asked, tapping Croconaw's side with his feet. "We're going to lose them." He bent forwards and looked at Croconaw's face. His pokémon was terrified. His tail was thrashing violently, but they weren't moving. They were stuck in place. Curiously silver looked into the water. The waves were rushing past them furiously at speeds he hadn't seen before, but still they weren't moving forwards. In fact they were beginning to move backwards. "What?" Silver questioned. He heard the sound of rushing water growing louder behind him. He looked back, and his face went white. Directly behind him a huge swirling whirlpool had opened up, sucking the ocean water down it like a gigantic furious toilet. Silver turned back around. "SWIM!" He shouted, terrified himself. Croconaw paddled, splashed and ever ran through the waves, desperate to escape the humungous water funnel behind them. But they were already caught in its suction, and slowly falling in. Silver waved to his friends. "Joe!" He yelled. "Winter! Help!" The two trainers looked back and saw Silver waiving at them, a genuinely terrified expression on his face.

"What's up with him?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"Dunno." He replied. But silvers persistent and terrified waving and yelling was worrying. He was too far away to hear what he was saying, but he looked like he was in trouble. "I think he might be in trouble." He realised finally. "We should go back and help him." Before Winter could respond Ralph was flying off, back towards the struggling trainer. "Ralph, wait!" Joe called after him, but the crobat was already long gone, speeding above the water and leaving a small wake of ripples behind him. His ears were twitching wildly. He could hear the danger before he could see it.

"Finally they realise." Silver muttered terrified and he began paddling his own arms in the water. Croconaw was thrashing desperately in the wake but couldn't break free from the swirling current. They were going in. Ralph flew straight into them, wrapping his arms around Silver and trying to pull him away. "Gwah!" Silver grunted in surprise. Ralph's grip was surprisingly tight and somehow he was staying up in the air using only her smaller rear wings. Slowly Ralph pulled the young trainer out from the sucking water. Croconaw, not wanting to be left behind, saw Silver's feet in front of his face and desperately grabbed hold of them with his jaw. Silver yelled in pain. "Ow!" He yelled. "That hurts!" Croconaw ignored him. He wasn't going to be left behind. Ralph was struggling to hold onto Silver now. He was struggling to barely hold onto the boy before, but now with the added weight of Croconaw handing onto his feet the force pulling them away was impossible to fight. But he didn't give up. Ralph tried to back up but only found himself being pulled down with them. Suddenly his strength broke, and Silver fell back into the water. His hand brushed Ralph's wing tip as he tried to grab him as he fell away. The splash was tiny as the water sucked him away, Croconaw falling with him. The two of them went under, disappearing into the whirlpool.

"Silver!" Joe yelled as he and Winter sped back to the scene, trying to help out. He saw Ralph grab him and lift him up, only to have him pulled away again. Now he had lost sight of him and Croconaw. The trainer looked on in shock. "Winter…?" He went to ask. But when he turned to his friend she just looked horrified. He found the question he had on his mind unimportant anymore. He may not know what happened, and he didn't need to. All he knew was that his friend was in very real danger. He began swimming again, holding onto Staryu to speed himself up.

Ralph looked down into the whirlpool, unable to grasp what had just happened. He couldn't see any sign of either of them. They were gone, pulled down the drain of the ocean and into the abyss bellow.

* * *

Silver held his breath. It was the only thing he could do. The water was a dragging torrent around him. He couldn't open his eyes. Even when he tried to he found the murky ocean water stinging them sharply. He could only hear the mad rushing of the underwater vortex in his ears, taunting and teasing him, keeping him prisoner. He felt himself being flung around, dragged and pulled downwards into the deeps. He reached out and thrashed about but found nothing to grab, nothing to stop himself, nothing to save himself. He dreaded to think what would happen to him. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. Silver struck solid ground side on. He exclaimed in surprise and pain, clenching his muscles with the shock. The rushing water was gone. The stinging feeling in his eyes had faded. The thrusting and shoving force had vanished. Everything was quiet and motionless. Silver could only think of one reason for this. He must be dead. But then he realised that if he was dead he wouldn't feel pain. He also wouldn't feel cold or wet. He opened one eye. A solid rock floor was under him. He was still alive, but he had no idea how. He'd just been sucked down a whirlpool. How was he still alive? He looked up. A rock ceiling. He looked around. Rock walls. He was in a cave, or a cavern to be more precise. Some kind of water eroded tunnel maybe. There were no stalagmites or stalactites at all, not even a quiet drip from the rocks. But there was the sound of water. Silver rolled over and sat up, looking properly at his surroundings. He was definitely in a cave, and a long one at that. The rock walls ran for miles ahead of him. He looked back. The end of the cave, with a small water pool big enough for a small group of people to stand in. He moaned and rubbed the back of his head. His whole body was aching from the force and impact. There was a big question on his mind.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" He asked aloud. Behind him he heard something make a loud and deep groan of pain. He turned around. Croconaw was lying on his back, belly up and facing the roof. His legs lay sprawled out as he struggled to stay conscious. "Oh, what happened to you?" Silver muttered. Croconaw kicked a leg and groaned again. He tried rolling over, but couldn't even budge himself slightly. "Hold on." Silver said exhaustedly. "I'll help you out." He rushed over to his pokémon and helped flip him over, eventually getting Croconaw back onto his stomach. The three foot tall crocodile pokémon stood up and looked unhappily at silver, shuffling his lower jaw, trying to loosen his tightened muscles up. Silver looked back. "I know, I'm sorry we got sucked down here." He apologised. Croconaw folded his arms. "And that I nearly left you behind." Silver added. Croconaw raised an eyebrow. "And for dragging you through the whirlpool in the first place. Look, what do you want from me, a cookie?" His snap made Croconaw growl at him. Silver sighed sharply. "Look, I didn't know that this was here." He told his friend. "Don't blame me. Besides, we're still alive, aren't we? We just need to find a way back out, then we're golden." Croconaw rolled his eyes. Somehow he didn't feel Silver would find any success in looking for an exit. "Oh shut up." Silver muttered. He turned and looked down the cave ahead. "Well, the only way is this way." He muttered. "So I say that this must lead somewhere." He began walking. "We got in here somehow, so we must be able to get back out a similar way." Croconaw followed him a few seconds later, looking back at the pool of water from where they'd came. He turned back around and ran after Silver. As he did so the pool began to bubble and spin as another whirlpool opened up inside it.

* * *

Joe and Winter floated at the rippling water edge, looking down into the whirlpool in front of them. Luckily the suck zone of the whirlpool wasn't huge so they could just about get close enough to look into it, but if they did move any closer they would be. The two trainers sat there, amazed that such a thing could suddenly pop out of nowhere. And Silver had been pulled down it, along with Croconaw. Ralph hovered next to them, looking rather guilty and disappointed with himself. Staryu kept the two of them afloat, gently rotating to bush itself back slightly as the outer rim of the current dragged them forward slowly. The tow trainers sat, peering into the watery vortex for a little while.

"I don't see him." Winter announced finally, giving up hope quickly.

"We can't just turn around." Joe told her. "Silver could be drowning. He could even be dead. We aren't just going to leave him."

"Joe." Winter snapped, sounding slightly saddened and unnerved as she looked pathetically at him. "He was sucked into a whirlpool. People don't usually survive that." She didn't look like she wanted to believe it, but she was saying it so bluntly it seemed brutally honest. But Joe wasn't prepared to just give up. He may not like Silver that much still, but he wasn't just going to let him die, if he was indeed drowning.

"I'm not leaving him." He insisted. His best friend looked at him. Winter wanted to slap him and wake him up from his delusion, but she only found herself being sucked into them herself, like Silver down the whirlpool. She sighed.

"Alright." She said. "So what do you propose we do?" Joe raised a finger to make a point. Then he froze. He just realise he had no idea what he could actually do. He had no water pokémon of his own, so if he was swimming down Winter was coming with him. If she refused then he couldn't go down, and he hadn't even considered that swimming into a whirlpool would only suck him in too. Him drowning would not make Silver's chances any better. There really was nothing he could do for them. They were lost. He closed his eyes, lowering his hand again and drooping his head. Winter nodded sadly. "You see." She said. "There's nothing we can do that won't endanger us too." She went to turn Staryu around. "We should go." She told him. "If we can get to land we can send a search party out to help us find him. It'll get too dark for us to do anything soon." Joe hummed sadly. She was right again, only this time he really wished she wasn't. Ralph looked at his friend, seeing his concerned and deeply saddened expression. He knew he had to do something, but what could he do. Ralph looked down into the swirling water. Then he saw something. At the very bottom he thought he could see something that looked like solid rock. An underwater cave maybe. Whatever it was, it was hope. Ralph looked back at Joe who was with Winter and preparing to head of again. Ralph inhaled deeply. He knew that he'd have to do something, even if it was to motivate his friend. But there was only one thing he could do that would do that. He looked into the water and exhaled. Then, letting out a loud screech so Joe would turn and see him, he dived, striking the swirling water.

Joe spun around to the sound of the screech, his pokémon's screech. As he turned he saw Ralph hovering over the centre of the whirlpool, looking down into the water. His wings were holding as he got ready to dive. "Ralph, don't!" Joe yelled out, trying to swim back. But his call went unheard. The second after he said against it, Ralph dived. "NO!" Joe screamed, letting go of Staryu and vigorously swimming back over to the whirlpool. Winter followed after him, Staryu pulling her forwards.

"Joe, stop!" She called, fearing he too would be pulled in. "You can't follow after him. You won't be able to breath." She reached out and grabbed Joe's shirt, trying to pull him back. Joe struggled violently against her.

"I'm not leaving him!" He roared. "I don't care what you say! I'm not letting him drown!"

"You can't!" She pleaded, fearing even more for her friend's safety. "You'll drown like them."

"You don't know that!" He insisted. "You don't know! They could be fine!" Joe freed himself from her grip and began swimming again, only to find Staryu and Winter had moved in his way now, stopping him getting further ahead. He tried to swim around but they just moved up ad blocked him again.

"Joe, don't be stupid!" Winter insisted, speaking both strictly and concernedly. "What will you do if you get sucked down there? How will you help them? Are you planning to swim back up against the whirlpool?" Joe glared at her.

"Winter, I promised Ralph I wouldn't leave him. I'm not about to break that promise."

"Would he want you to endanger your own life for him?" She asked strictly. "And what do you expect me to do, follow after you? Drag you out when you get stuck. What good will it do if we all get stuck down there?" Joe gave her a stern look.

"Then we both go down after them." He told her. "You don't want to let me go down alone, so we both go. If Ralph and Silver are still okay then we can drag them back out." Winter looked stunned.

"Joe, we'll drown!" She told him.

"Ralph wouldn't dive down for no reason." He told her. "Crobat's can't swim. They don't need to swim. So why would he dive down?" She didn't answer. He smiled at her, his chin dipping under the water as the waves washed into them. "We'll be okay." He told her. "I promise." Winter let out a loud groan of giving up.

"Oh alright!" She snapped, rotating around Staryu and letting Joe grab a hold again. "But if we die I'll kill you." Joe grabbed onto Staryu again and smiled at her.

"If I die you won't need to." He told her. Winter gulped, fearing for the worst.

"Okay, Staryu…" She said, pausing to gulp with nerves. "Take us in." Staryu pushed itself forwards slightly. Then suddenly all three of them were sucked downwards, disappearing into the whirlpool like the others.

* * *

The water swirled around them like a watery tornado, like a cyclone under the waves. The two trainers found their grips on Staryu loosening. Barely able to hold onto their raft, they grabbed hold of each other. The two trainers hugged each other as they were swung around under the water, quickly spinning towards the bottom of the vortex. Then, suddenly, it was all over. There was a rough landing, then the rushing water was gone. Joe and Winter opened one eye at the same time, then another. The first thing they saw was each other. Then they saw the positions they were lying in. The two of them exclaimed, pushing themselves away from the other. After a few embarrassed looks, they began to notice where they were. They were lying in a long rock cavern that stretched out further than they could properly see, though that might have something to do with the salt water in their eyes.

"Well." Joe muttered. "We're still alive at least." Winter huffed, not sounding too amazed by that notion but her expression showed she was clearly very glad to still have an existence. Joe pushed himself onto his feet, lending a hand to Winter as he did so and helping her up too. The two of them looked around the room.

"Where are we?" Winter asked, confused that they could be standing anywhere at all after what they'd just jumped into. Joe shrugged.

"I have no idea." He told her. "Some kind of underwater cave?" He put a hand on the rock wall. He felt the cold water coating freezing his fingertips. But the rock felt real. He tapped it. The quiet echo bounced around the walls and sped down the cavern at the speed of sound.

"Where's Staryu and Ralph?" Winter wondered. As she asked so there were two simultaneous grunts. One of pain and one of attention seeking. Behind them they saw Staryu lying flat and in pain besides a pool of calm cave water, waving one of its legs to get its trainers attention. And ahead of them they saw Ralph levitating a few feet further down the cavern, gesturing his head towards it and trying to get them to follow.

"Ralph." Joe exclaimed, rushing towards his friend and hugging him tightly. "You're okay!" He yelled thankfully. Ralph broke free from the crushing hug and gave Joe a serious look. "What's wrong?" He asked. Ralph looked back and pointed a wing further down the cavern. Joe glanced past him. All he could see was more rock cavern. "What's down there?" Joe asked him. Ralph turned back to him, looking disgusted. He tried to gesture something, but Joe couldn't tell what. "Something bad?" He asked. Ralph sighed. Then he pulled a face. He jutted his lower jaw out and stretched his eyes, folding his wings in like swimming fins. "Croconaw?" Joe asked, confused. "What about Croconaw?" Then he got the clue. "Are Silver and Croconaw down there?" He asked. Ralph nodded, tapping his ears. He could hear them faintly in the distance, and he didn't like what they were saying. There was bad news in the area.

"So they're okay, too." Winter asked, looking back from having helped Staryu back to its feet and given it a quick rest and check-up. "Thank goodness." Joe nodded back.

"Ralph says they're down the end of the passageway." Joe told her, smiling thankfully. It was great to hear that his friend was okay, even if he didn't really like him much. Ralph began making signs again. Joe tried to understand. Most of them were gibberish to him, but he did pick out two of them. One was a point down the tunnel, indicating the direction. The other was sliding a wing tip across his neck, which meant… "Silver's in trouble?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded slowly, real emphasis for movement showing in his look. Joe looked to Winter who, with Staryu, had joined him again and were now standing beside him. "He says that Silver's in trouble." He told her.

"Did he say what kind?" Winter asked, seeming concerned. Joe turned back to his pokémon.

"What kind of trouble?" He asked. Ralph thought for a second. Then he started contorting into a weird shape. When he was finished he ended up looking like a rather recognisable capital letter, specifically with a half circle part and two long sharp lines poking out from it. Joe sighed slightly. "Oh no." He muttered. "Not them again."

* * *

Silver and Croconaw crept down the cavern tunnel, playing cautious. They were nearly at the end now and so far they hadn't seen any other signs of life, but that could easily change in a matter of seconds. When they did finally reach the end of the tunnel they stopped and peered through. Outside the entrance they could see blue rippling light reflecting onto the walls ahead and the roof and the sound of rushing and crashing liquid. There was water in this next area. That could mean a possible way back to the surface. Silver smiled.

"Finally." He muttered, giving Croconaw a big grin. "A way out." He stepped forwards, out of the tunnel and onto a large rock overlook. The room ahead of him was several meters below where he was standing. Silver crawled cautiously up the edge, Croconaw following on all fours, being careful around the edges. Silver looked out. Ahead of him was a huge waterfall pouring out from somewhere in the rock. It fell downwards into a large pool several metres below the overlook he was now lying on, creating a continuous roaring splashing sound as it impacted on the surface. The walls were built like steep mountains, with jagged cuts and edges in them and at the roof the rock former sharp pillars around a small crack which another pool sat behind. The waterfall seemed to be coming from there as it fell away into the flooded lower floor. Silver found himself feeling a little moved. The place was weirdly romantic. It had a unique feeling if piece to it, as if all bad thoughts came here to be vanquished. He felt at piece lying there, the water rushing around him and the rock walling giving him plenty of space whilst also protecting from the world above. "It's kind of nice here, isn't it?" He said, looking at Croconaw and smiling. Croconaw did not smile back. Instead he looked rather worried. Silver scoffed at him. "You buzzkill." He muttered. He looked away. Suddenly he felt Croconaw's hand grab his hear. He had no time to react before his pokémon turned him back around, shoved his face over the edge of the overlook and pointed down below. "Wh-what are you…?" Silver grunted in surprise. Then he stopped. He saw below them another rock platform, except this one was in the water itself. It sat directly behind the water pool, giving some weird kind of land area to the water below. And there were people standing on it. "Hang on." Silver muttered, looking more keenly at them. "What are they doing down here?" He then saw what they were wearing. One turned around just in time for him to see the large red R on his black jumpsuit and hat. Silver groaned. "Oh, not team Rocket again." He muttered quietly, clearly annoyed. "Do they ever go away? Do they just live everywhere? They're like goddamn cockroaches." Croconaw nodded sadly, removing his hand from Silver hair. The ten grunts that were moving around bellow were up to something. There was the faint sound of echoed talking. Silver listened closer and was just about able to pick up what they were saying.

"We've successfully moved the load, ma'am." One grunt said, talking to a tall, white uniformed, redhead woman with a seriously malicious yet sassy stance.

"Excellent work." She said in a high pitched yet impossibly strict tone.

"What do you wish us to do now?" The grunt continued. The commander gave a faint chuckle.

"Oh, just make sure old guy back there's safely moved to the boat then give this place a quick sweep. See if there's anything more here we may want. We know our legendary friend over there won't need it anymore, and he might have some nice stuff stored away here." Silver thought that sentence over a few times.

"Legendary?" He wandered. Then his eyes widened. "No." He muttered. "They can't literally mean legendary, can they." He peered over the rock crest more. At the wall of the platform he could now see a large cave entrance, the same size as a small house. The other grunts were dragging something through it. Silver could hear their grunting at they tried to move it. The object seemed to be caught in a large net, its body just barely visible. Then he saw a faint second of body, a white form unconscious under the netting. Silver gasped. He looked around the room and suddenly realised exactly where they were. The great underwater lake. The spiked pillars. The waterfall. The whirlpool. Silver looked to his pokémon. "Croconaw." He gulped. "I think we're in real trouble." Croconaw looked back at him. "This place…" Silver muttered, gulping nervously. "This is Whirl Island." He explained. "Lugia's home." Croconaw's face went pail. "And if that body they're dragging is who I think it is…" He peered back over the rock edge to see the last part of the net disappear through the huge cave opening. "Then everyone in this region is in serious trouble, not just us anymore." He stepped back. "We need to go, now." He instructed. "Let's find our friends and get out of here." He turned to leave.

"SILVER!" The sudden yell made the boy freeze in place. The echoing call had come from down the cave, the same way he had come. Silver felt sweat pouring down his brow. He knew that that call must have been heard by the others. Cautiously he turned backwards, looking over the edge of the overlook. The rocket commander was looking directly back, and she'd seen him. He saw her gloveless hand point up at him, an angry snarl on her face.

"A witness!" She roared, her voice echoing slightly around the cave walls. She turned to the grunt beside her. "Get him!" Silver gulped.

"Oh crap!" He muttered. Then he ran, Croconaw following him, and the two of them sped of back down the cave. Behind them they heard the snap of a pokeball opening. Silver looked back. A creepy, long legged ariados was crawling up the walls, chasing after them, and speeding past it was an angry looking golbat. Silver sped up. Now he was running for his own life.

* * *

"SILVER!" Joe shouted as he and Winter walked down the cave tunnel, still searching for their friend. His voice echoed and bounced around the walls, speeding down the tunnel ahead.

'Sil-sil-sil-sil-sil-ver-ver-ver-ver-ver' it said repeatedly, lapping sounds over each other. There was no responding sound that followed. The two trainers and their pokémon continued on.

"It doesn't like he's here." Winter muttered.

"Where could he go?" Joe wondered. "He can't have gone any other way." The looked at each other. "We should keep looking." Joe decided. They continued onwards. Suddenly Ralph held out a wing, stopping them both instantly. The crobat kept his eyes looking forwards, staring keenly into the distance. "Ralph?" Joe asked, concerned and confused. "What's wrong?" Ralph didn't answer. He just moved a wing tip to his lips, making a shushing sound. His ears twitched slightly as sound touched them. Joe looked at his friend, then down the path again. Ralph was clearly hearing something they weren't Joe held a hand to his own ear, trying to hear whatever his friend was hearing. Winter also listened closely. They waited for a while. Then, suddenly, they heard a faint sound getting slowly closer. It sounded like running footsteps, though the quiet echoing was making it tough to tell. Joe and Winter looked at each other. Someone was running towards them. They peered back down the passageway. In the distance they could see a form, someone speeding right towards them at a terrifying rate. In fact there were two forms. One looked to be a human. The other seemed to be a three foot tall bipedal blue crocodile with red fins on its spine.

"It's Silver." Winter exclaimed happily. "He's okay."

"He is." Joe agreed. "Finally we can get out of here." He went to sped forwards, but Ralph stopped him again. He looked at him, a worried expression on his face. "Ralph, what are you doing?" Joe asked again, trying to step past. Ralph kept him back again, shaking his head. Joe looked past and saw Silver still running, getting closer and closer. But now he noticed something. He could see his face a bit now, and he looked terrified. He was running away from something, Croconaw following close behind. Joe saw his mouth open, then one word bounced around the entire room.

"RUN!"

Joe found himself taking a step back. Silver was nearly at them now, still running and not planning to slow down.

"Silver, are you okay?" Winter asked. Silver ran straight past them panting loudly. He slowed down and stopped, turning to face them, looking exhausted and still terrified. He panted and pointed back.

"Running away from them." He told them. Joe, Winter and Ralph followed where he'd pointed to. They saw the two poison pokémon running after them, and the rocket grunt and commander behind them. Joe growled.

"Rocket!" He muttered. He went to take a step forwards. Winter and Ralph grabbed him.

"Let's just get going." She told him. Ralph nodded in agreement.

"Let me go!" Joe struggled as Ralph turned him around and began pushing him after Silver. The four of them ran, chasing after their friend back down the cave they'd come from.

The six of them ran back the way they'd come, Ralph dragging Joe who was fighting for a fight against their chasers. Soon they came back to the poll where they'd started. They slowed to a halt, looking around desperately for any way to escape. But there wasn't one. They were trapped.

"What do we do know?" Silver muttered loudly, spinning around, desperately trying to find a way to go. "Where the hell do we go."

"I don't know?" Joe mumbled, looking around frantically.

"Fat lot of good you are." Silver snapped agitatedly. Ralph gave out a sharp yell. Joe turned and saw his friend floating by the pool, pointing into the water frantically. He gestured him over.

"What is it?" Joe asked, running over to his friend. Ralph continued to point into the water. Joe reached him and looked into the calm pool himself. From the centre of the pool he saw what Ralph had noticed. A small collection of bubbles were building up from the centre, slowly spinning and rotating at the middle of the pool, creating a spiral of water. But there was nothing in the pool to cause this. The ring was slowly growing larger, especially since Joe had stood next to it. He looked into the water. Then he had an idea. "Silver, Winter. Get over here, quick." He called. His friends looked back.

"Have you found a way out?" Winter asked.

"Maybe." Joe told her as she and Silver reached him, looking hopeful. "See that?" Joe asked, pointing at the pool of bubbles. The spinning ring had sped up slightly now and was slowly growing wider too.

"What is that?" Winter asked him.

"Dunno." Joe told her. "But it's not natural. It might be a way out?"

"How?" Silver asked, getting more frantic. "If it is, how do we use it?" Joe didn't know. He'd never seen anything like this before.

 _Step into the water._

The voice took him by surprise. He hadn't expected it to suddenly return. He knew who was talking to him, but he had no time thank them for returning at this point.

"We step inside." He told them. They looked at him.

"Step into the pool?" Silver asked. "You're mad. We're cornered down this tunnel and you want to take a paddle?" He looked at Winter. "You surely can't buy this." He said, sounding incredibly cynical of his companion. Winter also looked unsure. She looked Joe in the eyes and saw his persistent stare.

"I don't know if it'll work." She said calmly. "But what other choice do we have?" Joe nodded to her. Ralph was already floating in the middle of the water pool. Joe, cautiously, stepped into the water. The second he did so the water began to bubble more and more, spreading out across the whole water. Silver and Winter watched in amazement as the water began to rise upwards, slowly shrouding Joe's feet in a swirling whirlpool. There was an angry yell behind them. They turned to see three pokémon charging at them. Additional to the ariados and golbat there was also a young looking houndour charging alongside them, yapping and breathing small flames. The grunt and his commander sped up their run.

"Stop them, quick!" The commander yelled. The grunt sped up, as did his pokémon, speeding past his commander and running at the cornered children. There wasn't much of a choice. Winter stepped into the water, joining Joe at the centre where the whirlpool was growing upwards around them. Staryu joined her. Silver looked at them. He glanced back at the grunts running towards them and groaned.

"Oh, all right." He mumbled. He jumped into the pool, dragging Croconaw with him. The second all of them were in it, the whirlpool shot upwards, enshrouding all six of them in its spiralling wake, reaching the roof and colliding rapidly into it.

"Ariadne, heel!" The grunt yelled. His ariados skidded to a halt at the pools edge, staring up into the viciously, blasting, swirling whirlpool. The grunt stopped by his pokémon staring into the wake of water. With a loud clap the whirlpool broke and fell away in water droplets. The children were gone, their pokémon having vanished with them. The commander reached her grunt and looked unhappily at him. He turned to his commander.

"I'm sorry, Ariana." He said, bowing respectfully. "I let them escape. I apologise." She glared down on him.

"You named your pokémon?" She asked simply. There was a nasty hint of spite in her voice. The grunt raised his head slightly, though not looking directly at her face. "You know that's not allowed." She reminded him. "How many have you named?" The grunt stood straight again. He was clearly ashamed that he'd been caught.

"All of them." He told her, self-disappointedly. The commander continued to stare at him disappointedly.

"What are their names?" She asked.

"Ariadne, Lurk and Demon." He told her, pointed respectively at the ariados, the golbat and the houndour. The commander shook her head and tutted.

"I'm afraid I'll have to report this, Danning." She told him. "If you are heard repeating these names in commands again I'll have them removed and destroyed. I'd advise that you keep your tongue tight from now on." She turned to leave.

"What about the kids who escaped?" The grunt asked. His commander waved a hand as she walked away.

"Forget about them." She told him. "They probably saw nothing of our actions. And even if they did they won't be able to do anything about it." She smiled to herself and added personally "No. They won't be any bother to us. Not now we've got a legendary in our hands now."

* * *

The whirlpool opened up again, this time spinning the opposite direction. And out of it the three humans and three pokémon were thrown out. They flew through the air and landed with six heavy splashed into the water. Joe swam back to the surface and gasped for air. They were back in the ocean, safe above the surface of the earth again. He had never felt so free before, at least free as in given open space. Considering his mental state he wasn't free of any mental shackles he may have. But at least they were safe and back out of danger. He looked around and saw his friends also surfacing, still conscious and still breathing. Silver was clinging desperately to the exhausted looking Croconaw several feet away, looking emotionally shattered. Winter wasn't much further away, hanging onto Staryu's floating side. Beside Joe he saw something purple and man sized bob up and roll over. Ralph looked at him, smiling wildly. Joe smiled back. They had made it back out alive.


	20. Chapter 20: Chuck: Fists of Steel

The trilogy of trainers finally washed up on the beach, their clothes soaked and their bodies exhausted. Joe dragged himself up the beach, coughing out water as he recuperated. They had had to swim a long way just to get to the opposite sure. Next time they would just fly. They knew the way now, so they could do it. Ralph landed on the sand next to him, his wings outstretched. Winter and Silver landed next to them, also inhaling and exhaling exhaustedly. It was already dark. They didn't have time to rest.

"Is… everyone… present?" Joe called.

"Yes." They all responded.

"Good." Joe muttered. He rolled over and began pushing himself up onto his knees. "Let's… go… then." He struggled back onto his feet. Winter and Silver muttered and followed him. The beach was thankfully right next to Cianwood town. In fact it was Cianwood town. The whole town consisted of a big collection of wooden huts built into the long beach itself. It wasn't exactly the most hazard free environment to build a town, especially when it rained at the ocean spread further up the beach, flooding the houses. But they weren't there to judge the town's construction choices. They were there to get medicine and go. Silver was arguing frantically with Winter, Croconaw crawling on all fours beside him.

"I swear to you." He said persistently. "It was Team Rocket. They were inside the cave with us. They were the ones chasing us." Winter looked at him.

"How would they even get down there?" She asked him.

"I don't know. He told her. "But they were. I swear on it. I saw them with my own eyes. Croconaw saw them too, didn't you?" He turned to his pokémon. Croconaw nodded in agreement. "You see." He said, turning back to Winter.

"I believe you, Silver." She told him. "But it sounds odd. What would they be doing in some underwater cave?"

"It wasn't just a cave." Silver told her, his face stretching with a strange kind of fear. His friends had never seen him look or act this way before. He seemed genuinely afraid of something. "It was Whirl Island!" He explained. "Lugia's home!" The two trainers stopped and looked at him.

"Whirl Island?" Joe asked. Silver nodded.

"Definitely." He told him. "I'd recognise it anywhere. It looked exactly like the legends and drawing showed it. We were standing in the house of a legendary pokémon!" They were quiet for a while. Each of them looked from one to the other. None of them knew how to respond to this news.

"Why and how were Team Rocket down there then?" Joe asked. Silver shrugged.

"I don't know, but it can't be good news." He told them. "They were literally in the main hall, but the legendary himself wasn't there. They were moving something big onto a boat in the other room. They must have done something with it." Joe looked at his friends.

"This all sounds too weird." He stated. "This is clearly something big. But I'm exhausted right now. We'll deal with all that tomorrow morning. Let's just get the medicine and get out of here." There was a row of agreeing nods from his friends. Joe yawned and turned, stepping into the town. The second he did so there was a humungous roar from someone who was very loud and very aggravated.

"TRAINER!" The shout echoed across the ocean and into outer space. It was so loud it made fog horns jealous. The whole group looked up in surprise, snapped into awareness the way that seven gallons of concentrated coffee could never do. At the far end of the town and running straight towards them was a huge muscular man wearing ripped judo short with arms like tanks and legs like missile silos. He ran down the beach like a rampaging pink rhinoceros. Halfway towards them he jumped, launching himself into the air like a spring footed toad and landed on both feet several metres away from the trainers. Joe and his friends just stared in shock as the muscular man approached them, a keen and intimidating smile on his face. He pointed a blunt veiny finger at Joe's chest. "You!" He roared in his face. "We battle!" Joe looked at this weird man standing in front of him. He took a step back.

"Um… sorry?" He asked. The man but his knuckles on his hip.

"Are you deaf?" He asked. He cracked his neck violently. "You. Me. Battle. Here. Now!" Joe continued to look at the man.

"Uh… what?" He asked again. The man gave him an angry look.

"Do you not know who I am?!" He roared, his rotten breath burning Joe's face. "I am only the powerful almighty Chuck, Gym leader of this here beach town!" Joe looked blankly at the martial arts man. Then he and his friends simultaneously let out a loud annoyed groan. This was the guy Jasmine had warned them about, and they had run straight into him the second they'd arrived. Joe could feel a serious case of internal angry shouting going on inside his throat. He went to walk past him, but Chuck shoved him back. So he was going to be a problem after all.

"Look, I'm not in the mood for this today." He warned him. "We've just swam across an entire peninsula and we're exhausted. Plus we're on an errand for the gym leader in Olivine city. So if you could kindly let me pass I'd be very grateful." Joe tried to walk around him but the gym leader just stepped in his way.

"No!" He blurted loudly. Joe was beginning to get aggravated by his difficultness.

"Look here, you overgrown steroid abusing muscle cake!" He snapped rudely. "Get out of the way. You're just annoying me now." Chuck grinned at him.

"I'll let you pass if you battle me." He stated. Joe glared at the gym leader.

"I told you, I don't have time for this." Joe argued. "There's a sick pokémon we need to help." Chuck shook his head.

"No. You battle me first, then you get help for it, ya hear?" Joe clenched his fists with real anger now. He went to argue back when Winter put a hand on his shoulder.

"Joe, just do what he asks." She said kindly. "Silver and I can get the medicine while you keep him busy. Besides, you can get your fifth gym badge if you win." Joe sighed. He turned to Chuck.

"Alright." He said, sounding angry but giving up anyway. "I'll battle you." Chuck punched his knuckles together.

"Good!" He roared. "This'll be fun. I rarely get to battle newcomers, and you look like a good challenge."

"We'll see you later." Winter said. Joe nodded.

"Don't take long."

"We won't." She and Silver hurried away, taking Staryu and Croconaw with them as the hurried across the beach towards the few stores in search of the specific medicine they needed. Joe turned back to Chuck. The muscular gym leader punched his first to the air.

"Alright!" He roared, showing his armpits of to the world. "Let's Brawl!"

Chuck didn't even give Joe a second to think or breathe. The second he had announced the battle he was holding a pokeball in his hand and releasing it. When it opened it sent out a large fist-punching primape onto the sandy battleground. Chuck threw his hand out.

"Dynamic Punch!" He roared. Joe reacted fast.

"Ralph, block it!" He yelled. Ralph flew into Primape's way and blocked the attack with his wings, making a blow to Primape's side with a free wing as he did so. Unfortunately the power of Primapes attack struck him out of the air, leaving both pokémon on the sand. Joe was stunned. Chuck had attempted to attack before he had even had time to send a pokémon out. And now it was Ralph stuck in this fight. He didn't know if that was a good thing or bad. Ralph was strong and he had a type advantage, but Primape was clearly fast and he packed a real punch. If he kept landing hits Joe couldn't expect Ralph to be able to keep take them. He'd have to play strategically, especially considering that Chuck clearly wasn't the type to do that. Ralph got back into the air quickly, preparing to fight and defend his friend again. Primape pushed himself up with a powerful shove off the ground using his gloved hands and landed back onto its feet, readying into a defensive boxing stance.

"Fury Swipes!" Chuck yelled. Primape ran in to attack, arms out and fused fingers sharp to scratch.

"Dodge!" Joe called. Ralph dodged backwards, avoiding the vicious swiped multiple times. Primape flailed its arms at him, swiping his hands through the air. One claw hit Ralph once, but only buffeted him slightly as he darted back out of the way. Ralph circled around, giving himself more space and moving away from Joe so he didn't get caught up in the attacks thrown at him. "Steel Wing!" Joe called. Ralph stretched his wings out, letting them go solid metal, then flew in to attack. The rim of his wing struck Primape in the chest, causing it to flinch and fall backwards onto the beach. Ralph flew past, circled around and came back in to attack again.

"Low Kick!" Chuck roared. Primape grinned, then, as Ralph came flying it to attack, he spun up onto his feet and lashed out low with his foot. The attack hit Ralph in the side of the head as he tried to fly higher up, knocking him out of the air. He landed painfully on his side, rolling in the sand for a few feet. When he stopped he pushed himself up and coughed out a few specks of sand. "Now crush it!" Chuck continued. Primape stomped over to Ralph and raised a foot. As he came to stamp down however the grounded crobat rolled aside, avoiding the strong stomp onto his back and letting Primape's foot bury itself into the sand. As Ralph evaded the attack he swung his wing out, striking primape's feet out from under him. The bulky fur pile crashed onto its back, wincing with the surprise. Ralph got back into the air and took off, preparing for a fly attack.

"Take it down!" Joe called. Ralph backed up in mid-air, aiming his attack and preparing his body for a full impact. Primape was slowly pushing himself back onto his feet, getting ready to fight Ralph again.

"Primape, focus your energy." Chuck instructed. Primape closed its eyes and clenched its arm muscles into a tensing pose. It waited patiently for its opponent's next action. Ralph watched his prey, searching for the right place to strike. Then he dived, zooming down through the air and speeding towards Primape, wings folded in. The sandy shore whipped up a small cloud of stone particles as he sped over it, ripping the air past him like a chainsaw through water. To him it was barely a barrier. He was seconds away from impacting into Primape now. He gained speed and stretched his wings out, forming a blurred purple X. The Chuck made another command. "Now!" He simply roared. Primape's eyes snapped open again. It pulled its arm back, its boxing glove fist glowing dark brown, then thrust forwards. The punch struck Ralph between the eyes as he reached his target. Then he was flying backwards, his wings crumpled and his mouth screaming in pain. He crashed into the sand by Joe's feet, lying there dazed for a while.

"Ralph!" Joe exclaimed. He knelt down and hugged his friend, checking him over. Thankfully he was still conscious, if a little stunned and dizzy. "Are you okay?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded, giving a small grunt. His eyes rolled loosely a little. "Can you still fight?" He asked. Ralph made an attempt to get back up, shrugging Joe off him and pushing himself defiantly back into the air. "That would be a yes then, would it?" Joe muttered. Ralph smiled weakly to him. He was clearly tired from their long flight and still suffering from the attack, but Joe had to admit he was surprisingly defiant. He didn't like backing down, even when the odds weren't good. Luckily today the odds were about even for both sides, but odds change quickly. Primape punched its gloved hands, eager to keep fighting. Chuck made a similar action, crunching his knuckles in his palms. He then proceeded to point a blunt bulky finger.

"Dynamic Punch again!" He roared. Primape stamped its feet, rubbed a foot on the sand kicking it up, snorted hot steam from its pig like snout and charged, rushing like a furious fur ball at the waiting crobat.

"Dodge it, then strike it in the back with Cross Poison!" Joe instructed. Ralph nodded. Primape came in to attack, fist pulled back and glowing brown again. As he swung in however Ralph dodged right, leaving Primape to strike the air, causing it to rupture. It spun around, only for Ralph to dart around the other side. While Primape was still trying to find where he'd gone Ralph flew up behind it, pulled his wings back, made them glow purple with poison energy then released, striking Primape in a cross pattern. Primape winced, stumbling forwards slightly. It swung around, lashing out with an arm, but Ralph was already gone. He'd shot upwards the second Primape had started to turn, floating several feet above the pokémon's head. "Fly!" Joe called. Ralph dived, smacking Primape in the back again, this time with a fly attack. Primape fell onto its face, oinking furiously as sand filled its nostrils and eyes. Chuck growled a little.

"Sneaky!" He muttered. He clenched his knuckles. "I wouldn't rely on that though." He warned. Primape pushed itself back onto its feet, looking furiously at Ralph, flexing its arms to loosen the muscles. Chuck threw his arm out. "Fury Swipes!" Primape threw itself at Ralph, claws raking the air. Ralph just darted backwards, dodging each swipe in consecution. However Primape wasn't giving up. As Ralph dodged aside from the fifth swipe it swung its leg out, smacking the crobat in the side as he moved away. Ralph was sent spinning slightly from the impact. Immediately Primape was on him, striking him with multiple fury swiped and pushing him back towards the ocean.

"Block it!" Joe called. Ralph raised his wings in front of his face, weakening the impact of the incoming dynamic punch, but the attack was still strong enough to knock him back. Ralph was left winded for a second, the force of the attack knocking the energy out of him. Primape took full advantage, continuing to boxing punch Ralph over and over in the chest. "Come on Ralph." Joe muttered. "Get it back. Hit it in the gut!" Ralph managed to focus for a second in between strikes to stop a weak point. Every time Primape made a punch it left its stomach wide open. Ralph took the attacks like a champ, waiting patiently for the right time to attack. He blocked the incoming punch with his left wing and struck a steel wing into Primape's unprotected chest. Primape stumbled backwards, halting its barrage of attacks. Now Ralph was able to take his revenge. He pulled his wings back and slashed them forwards in a purple X. Primape was kicked backwards by the force. It's weakened and now poisoned body landed flat on the sand, leaving a huge imprint where it hit. It made a loud grunt, then exhaled, collapsing again and breathing slowly and heavily. Ralph exhaled, breathing a sigh of relief. He took a second to get his breath back. Chuck still stood where he was, his arms crossed. He seemed to waiting for something. Joe smiled. "Good job, Ralph." He called. "Come on back." Ralph smiled as his trainer. He began flying back across the beach towards his friends. Then suddenly Primapes arm shot upwards, grabbing Ralph's wing and yanking him down. The crobat screeched with surprise as he was suddenly pulled from the air by force and thrown to the ground. Primape was suddenly on top of him, smashing his fists viciously and rapidly into Ralph's chest, keeping him pinned. Joe watched on in horror as the primape then proceeded to jump up and slam its feet into Ralph's chest, jumping up and down thrice on his chest. Ralph was left not much more than a crumpled purple pile by the time it stepped away. He was weezing and wincing with exhaustion. Then Primape proceeded to finish him off. For the final fatality he grabbed hold of Ralphs upper wings, lifted him to the air and proceeded to spin him right round like a record. The Primape-Crobat cross rotated on the spot, spinning faster and faster as the shot putting gorilla aimed his weight. Then he released, sending Ralph flying in a purple ball across the sandy beach and towards his trainer. Joe stepped back, trying to ready himself to catch his friend. But in the end he was unprepared. Ralph crashed into him, knocking the two of them into the sand. When Joe pulled his head of the beach he looked down to see Ralph laying crumpled and beaten of his knees. He was out like light, the thrashing he'd taken proving beyond too much for him. Primape dusted of his arms and sides, knocking sand particles from his fur to the ground. It smiled weakly. It looked like it was just on its last legs, but clearly even that was still a dangerous area to stand. Chuck was smiling boastfully.

"You're pokémon clearly wasn't up for the task." He stated, crossing his arms, causing his muscles to expand like inflated balloons of meat. "In the end no type advantage can save you from real strength." Primape crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. Joe lay Ralph in the ground next to him, making sure he was comfortable where he lay. He then stood up and looked at the supposed gym leader.

"You didn't have to be so vicious about it." He told him. The gym leader shrugged.

"Kid, that's life as a trainer." He stated. "It's either KO or be KO'd! Don't expect sympathy here, cos you won't find it anywhere else either." Joe felt himself growing a little angrier at the man. He was wasting his time and knocking his pokémon out at the same time. He had somewhere he needed to be, and Chuck was holding him up. He looked back. Behind him the sun had vanished beneath the horizon, leaving only a deep purple haze at the base behind the mountains. The rest of the sky was black. Only the light of the stars and the moon illuminated their battle field. They and their pokémon would have to rely on their eyesight skills and abilities for the main running now. Joe clenched his own sweating fists. He was going to have to take down Chuck and his pokémon as quick as possible, if he wanted to get out of their soon. He reached for a pokeball and unclipped it, holding the trainer tool in his open arm. Chuck waited patiently for his next opponent. Joe released the ball.

"Go, Pippy!" He called. The pokeball rolled and dived through the air, bursting open a few feet above the sand and releasing Pippy, the small but agile electric mouse. Chuck chuckled a little.

"That's what you send out to fight me?" He asked. "A tiny little pikachu?" He laughed "This should be easy. Primape, crush it!" Primape nodded and stomped forwards, turning his walk into a shoving run, pulling an arm back to swipe it round and strike Pippy away.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy stored up static, sparking it from his cheeks. He arched if back and fired a single long but potent electricity bolt into Primape's face. The much larger fighting pokémon flinched up and fell to his knees, the static causing his muscles to spasm where he stood. "Now's our chance." Joe called. "Slam it in the face!" He roared. Pippy prepared himself for a run up. Then he sprinted across the sand, kicking up particles as his feet flicked and propelled him over the stone particle ocean. He jumped and slammed body first into Primape's forehead, knocking the great ape backwards and down again. It grunted but didn't give up. It was nearly out of energy but it was refusing to slow down. Primape pushed itself back to its feet, its eyes glowing red with rage now. It began punching its fists together in an intimidating way.

"Fury Swipe that little rodent!" Chuck roared. Primape threw itself at Pippy, claws scraping the air.

"Dodge it!" Joe called. With each swipe Primape made at him Pippy backed up, dodging left and right and back and even forwards to avoid the attack. At the fifth swipe he dived and rolled underneath Primape, escaping between his legs. He turned quick and jumped, slamming the ape in the back and knocking it onto its face again. The sand whipped up around him. "Finish it off with thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged up static and fired, striking Primape in the spine with it as it tried to get back up. This time the gorilla pokémon collapsed and didn't get back up. Primape was out for the count. "Well done, Pippy." Joe cheered. The small yellow electric mouse ran back over to him, smiling proudly. Joe patted his pokémon's head, scratching him behind the ears. Pippy squeaked happily. Chuck withdrew his pokémon again, turning back to Joe, looking frustrated.

"Okay, so I admit I underestimated the little rat." He said. "But that was only one of my pokémon you defeated. I still have one more." And with that he withdrew the second of his two pokeballs, gripping it between his hands. "And Primape wasn't even my strongest pokémon." He finished. The pokeball was flung through the air. It fell back down again and burst open, releasing a huge blue and bulky poliwrath onto the sand. It gurgled, punching its fists and stomping the sand, setting itself up to have a good fight. Pippy arched his back, preparing to fight again. Chuck pointed his flat tipped finger at the tiny mouse. "Body Slam!" He roared. Poliwrath charged across the sand, chest forward. Then it jumped, hoping to land on Pippy and crush him. Unfortunately the tiny mouse darted away, avoiding the attack easily and returning it with his own slam. Sadly this did very little to the much bigger, bulkier pokémon, as it pushed itself back onto its feet, turned and kicked the tiny mouse away. Pippy rolled over and got back to his feet, preparing to make another attack. Poliwrath was already coming in for another attack.

"Thunderbolt it!" Joe called. Pippy sparked and fired a bolt of electricity at the bulky water/fighting type. Poliwrath however thought otherwise. It jumped aside as it ran, avoiding the attack and coming in with a powerful dynamic punch, striking the ground in front of it. The force wave it made sent Pippy flying backwards.

"Dynamic Punch again!" Chuck roared. Poliwrath pulled its fist from the ground, still glowing brown over its white glove, and charged again. Pippy recovered quickly and saw the tank of a water type charging at him, another punch attack prepared.

"Dodge it and strike from behind." Joe instructed. Pippy prepared himself. Poliwrath ran in to attack, barely inches away from his target now. Pippy leaped, flying straight towards his opponent. Poliwrath swings it fist forwards. Joe expect the impact to be devastating. But instead it never happened. Pippy rotated in mid-air, turning around and jumping straight through the gap between Poliwrath's arm and its body, avoiding the attack completely. As he flew past he rolled onto his back, began to spark, aimed his cheeks at Poliwrath's back and fired a heavy bolt of electrostatic. The thunderbolt hit Poliwrath in the spine, causing it to seize up on the spot. The bulky frog pokémon yelled in pain and buckled onto its knees, breathing heavily. Chuck growled.

"Get up, damn it!" He roared. Poliwrath breathed heavily, trying to recover from its short term paralysis. Now Pippy had an open opportunity to do more damage to it.

"Pippy, Slam it in the back!" Joe commanded. Pippy nodded and ran forwards, jumping into the air and slamming down full body force onto Poliwrath's exposed spine. The larger bulkier pokémon was knocked face first to the sand by the sheer unexpected force of the attack. Pippy jumped back, safely away from his opponent. Poliwrath grumbled, its mouth full of sand, and slowly pushed itself back up onto its feet. Chuck was steaming now. It was hard to tell whether he was enraged or enthralled. He punched his fist to the air in a commanding way.

"Poliwrath!" He roared. "Use Belly Drum!" Poliwrath raised its arms out, stretching them, flattening its hands from boxing gloves to white winter mittens. It held them out long in front of its face, stretching the muscles so they didn't become tight. Then it began slapping its own stomach, causing a very bass drumming sound. From afar this action looked ridiculous, especially at the speed it was doing it, but up close it was still pretty silly. Considering the idea was for it to be intimidating it failed at even being slightly fierce. It looked like some kind of ridiculous racist tribal dance. Joe had to stop himself from chuckling slightly.

"Pippy, give it another shock." Joe instructed. Pippy sparked again and fired another thunderbolt, hitting Poliwrath in the gut. The big blue frog seized up again. "Now slam it!" Joe continued. Pippy ran in and charged his opponent, jumping at him to strike again. But Chuck had been waiting for this.

"Poliwrath, use Dynamic Punch!" He called. Poliwrath managed to just about pull its arm back, fist clenched, as electricity continued to spark around its body. Pippy arrived to attack, and Poliwrath released. The force of the strike was so powerful it had explosive sound to it. Pippy wasn't just pushed back, he was flung back. He sailed backwards through the air, eventually landing painfully in the sand, causing a digging wake behind him. The beach literally split open with his impact, sending sand everywhere. Chuck grinned to himself while Joe just stared in awe. The power it had mustered to send his pokémon flying so far back. He had never seen something like that from a gym leader's pokémon before. He looked from his stunned Pippy to Chuck's poliwrath. It had folded its arms coolly, free from its static torture now and was staring at its crumbled opponent. Whatever it had done a second before must have had some unseen effect. Somehow it had gained power. But Joe wasn't going to let this stop him.

"Come on, Pippy." He whispered. "You can get back up. Fight that thing." Pippy crawled back out from his sandy crater and stood defiantly on all fours, glaring down its much bigger assailant. Poliwrath seemed amused by his defiance and refusal to go down. Chuck also seemed rather impressed. "Are you okay to go on?" Joe asked. Pippy grunted painfully, but he gave a small nod of confirmation. Joe smiled. "Good." He said, happy his pokémon was strong enough to keep going. He pointed a finger. "Pippy, use Double Team!" Joe commanded. Pippy created a large ring of fake pikachu's around him, hiding himself in the ring of copies. Poliwrath stomped towards him, barging his way into the ring and causing a few images to evaporate, standing at the centre and looking from image to image. It waited for a while. A thunderbolt was fired from a random direction. Poliwrath leaned backwards, narrowly dodging the bolt as it passed by its face. It's eyes glared to the area the attack had come from. Then it charged, ramming through at least five images and once with a ramming body slam. One image did not evaporate. Pippy was thrown backwards, flying upwards with the following motion as his tiny legs flailed. Poliwrath suddenly took aim, pointing its swirl belly up at pippy. Water energy began to form around it. Then, with incredible force, it fired a full sized hydro pump from its chest, striking Pippy in mid-air. The result of this was knocking the tiny pikachu higher into the air. Because Pippy was already lifted of the ground he had nothing to push back with or resist the attack with. Therefor he was helpless as the water torrent flung him high up into the sky. Finally, after several seconds of nonstop torrent, the attack faded and Pippy fell again. When he finally landed again he hit the sand limply. There was no sound or movement from him from then on. Joe was unable to make himself say anything. The only thing that eventually came from his mouth were the words "Damn." Chuck smiled widely.

"That's how we do things." He cheered. "Great job pulverising him, Poliwrath!" Poliwrath bowed back to its trainer, also smiling proudly. It was surprising that a brutish brawler like Chuck had a huge amount of respect for his pokémon. Considering his aggressive battle hungry attitude Joe had expected him to be a cruel master to them, constantly shouting obscenities. But he wasn't. He was respectful and rewarding, and they clearly respected him back. It was an interesting relationship to watch. But just because Joe respected it, it didn't mean he had to like or endure it. He unclipped Pippy's pokeball and withdrew him, looking at the now occupied pokeball and feeling a little sorry that his friend had been hurt so badly.

"Sorry, buddy." He muttered. "Guess I should have pulled you out of there sooner. You did a good try, though." He clipped the pokeball back to his belt and looked back at Chuck. He was aggravating him now. It was like he was trying to make him angry. His smile and stare showed a pure colour of intentional irritation, and Joe wasn't going to let himself fall for it. He reached for his third and final pokeball. He unclipped the ball, held it between both his hands, and with a strong and commanding tone he yelled "Go, Leaf!" , throwing the pokeball. It snapped open, releasing his young and happy hearted bayleef onto the field. It had been a while since Joe had used Leaf in a battle, and hopefully he would be able to finish this one for him. He did have the type advantage, but Poliwrath was really strong and may end up proving too tough for him. Still, Joe knew his pokémon could do it. He had faith in him, even if that faith proved misplaced. "Alright Leaf." Joe instructed simply. "Let's start off with a simple razor leaf! Leaf nodded. He flicked his head leaf and sent a flurry of crescent blades at Poliwrath. The fighting pokémon swatted the attack away, hitting each leaf separately with a simple karate block.

"Body Slam!" Chuck yelled. Poliwrath charged at Leaf, ramming its body forwards and propelling itself with its wheeling legs.

"Reflect!" Joe instructed quickly. Leaf flicked his head leaf again, this time causing a circular shield of pin energy to form tightly around him. When Poliwrath impacted its attack only pushed Leaf backwards slightly, doing only half the damage. This didn't stop Poliwrath from pressing harder however as the overgrown toad began shoving its shoulders forwards, pushing Leaf slowly backwards. "Body Slam it back!" Joe called. Leaf grunted as he tried to hold Poliwrath back but he just wasn't strong enough. But he didn't give up. He kept pressing, leaning in harder and lowering his head to put more of his shoulder strength into it. Slowly Poliwrath was slowing down until the two were stuck at an impasse. Then the tables turned. Suddenly it was Poliwrath who was ever so slowly being pushed back. The brutish bulk looked surprised that Leaf was somehow proving to be stronger then it. Leaf growled, putting so much force into his ramming it was causing him strain. Finally he came out top, managing to not only push Poliwrath away but also knock it over backwards. The watery martial artist landed on its round backside, looking rather stunned as it impacted into the sand with a thud. It was quickly back to its feet, its body recovering instantly. Its pride however would take a little longer to heal. Leaf grinned confidently, giving Poliwrath a taunting stare. Poliwrath glared back, not appreciating his cockiness. Chuck gritted his teeth. This was the final neck of the fight. One pokémon left each. Who was going to come out on top, with an arm wrapped around the others leg and yanking it behind its back. He roared, throwing a finger out.

"Hydro Pump!" He roared. Poliwrath began forming water energy to its chest.

"Prepare yourself!" Joe instructed. Leaf did as he was told, positioning himself in a head on defensive stance, ready to take the attack and push back against it. It didn't take long for Poliwrath to fire. The hydro pump struck Leaf in the head, pushing him with full force. The water struck his plant skin, trying to move him. It dripped into the sand, causing a small sinking pit under him. It tried to move the mountain in its path. But when the attack finished and the water disappeared Lead was still standing where he had been, hardly even hurt by the torrential attack. He raised his head, looking up at his opponent, and he smiled. Poliwrath began to growl with annoyance. It clenched its fists at Leaf, threating more violence. "Good job, Leaf." Joe called. Chuck stomped his feet.

"Smash it with Dynamic Punch!" He demanded. Poliwrath charged, an arm pulled back to strike.

"Stop it with Razor Leaf!" Joe called. Leaf flicked his leaf, sending the bladed attack at Poliwrath. This time it had no chance to block or avoid the attack. The blades struck and cut its skin, causing efficient damage and bringing the watery fighter to its knees. Poliwrath's attack failed, and now it was sitting vulnerably. "Time to take it out!" Joe instructed. Leaf didn't even wait for him to finish. He charged, head lowered and all his strength in his shoulders. Poliwrath could only watch as the titanic vegetable monster rampaged towards him. The impact knocked it flat. Leaf ran past Poliwrath, leaving it lying flat on its back and staring up at the night sky. It wasn't getting back up. It was all out of strength.

Chuck dropped to his knees, his mouth open wide. To say he was stunned would have been a big understatement. No, he was more apoplectic. He punched the sand vigorously.

"NOOOOOOO!" He roared, letting out his anger in one go. "I LOST! ARCEUS DAMN IT!" Leaf returned to Joe's side, smiling happy. Joe patted him on the head. He was proud of his team. They had really pushed themselves in this fight, and he was grateful for it.

"Well done, buddy." He said. Leaf purred happily, rubbing his head under Joe's arm. Joe scratched Leaf behind the leaf. Joe was suddenly struck by a surge of tiredness in his brain. It was at this point he realised just how tired he was. He felt like he was going to collapse and fall asleep there on that beach. His knees knocked a little. Chuck looked up at Joe, the rage gone from his eyes now, but still looking a little unhappy. He stared him in the eyes.

"You bested me." He muttered, sounding amazed. "I thought you were just a simple weakling trainer. A bit of battling sport. I should have thrashed you. But you beat me." He blinked slowly. "How? How did you beat me?" Joe looked at the gym leader.

"To be honest, I have no idea." He told him truthfully, stifling a following yawn. "Luck?" He suggested. There was a shout from further down the beach.

"JOE!" Someone called. Joe spun around slowly. Winter and Silver were running back to him. In Winter's hand was something that looked like a small poultice, a tiny leather bag dipped in an odd oil and filled with medicinal herbs. He waved a tired hand at them.

"Hey guys." He murmured, barely able to stay awake anymore. The aftermath of the battle was already getting to him. He could feel his legs and spine giving up. "Did you get the medicine?"

"Yes." Winter told him. She reached him and held up the small pouch. Joe could smell it from where he was. It smelt bitter and slightly sickly. There was also a faint whiff of ammonia. He wandered a little what exactly was in there. Then he realised he probably didn't want to find out.

"You won't believe how long it took just to get this." Silver muttered. "The crazy old bat serving us was deaf. She couldn't hear a word we said. Whose idea was it to put her in charge of a medicinal store?" Joe shrugged of his words. He was too tired to listen to Silver compline.

"Never mind." He muttered. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

"It might be best if we fly back to Olivine." Winter spoke up. "I'm too exhausted to swim right now."

"I would agree." Joe said. "But Ralph's not really… well, conscious enough to do that at the moment." He looked down at his companion. Ralph was still lying curled up on the sand, snoring loudly now. Silver stepped forwards, reaching into his pocket.

"I actually have something that might help with that." He said. He pulled out a small rolled up piece of paper towel, and when he opened it there was a small chuck of weirdly shaped root. "I got this while we were at the store." He explained. "It's supposed to give a pokémon a sudden burst of energy. He might not like the taste though." Joe waved his hand.

"Sure, go ahead." He told him. Silver knelt down beside Ralph and attempted to pry open his jaw nervously. Ralph snored loudly. When Silver finally did man up the courage to open Ralph's mouth he placed the root slowly between his teeth and made him chomp down on it. A split second after Ralph was awake again. His eyes snapped open and he suddenly shut up into the air, hovering above the ground, coughing and spluttering, trying to spit the horrible, bitter tasting root from his mouth. Silver fell backwards, taken by surprise. Ralph finally managed to spit the root from his mouth and he calmed down again. Then he turned to Joe who was laughing a little. "You're awake again then?" He asked. Ralph looked at him. He clearly wasn't too happy his friend had pulled that trick on him. Joe smiled. "Alright then." He said to his friends. "Let's get out of here."

"Hold on one second." Chuck said suddenly, holding up a big muscular hand. Joe turned and looked at the defeated gym leader. He was looking pretty pathetic now. He was still kneeling in the sand, looking depressingly at the ground. He looked up at his opponent again, his face disappointed and also slightly apologetic. "I just wanted to thank you for battling me today." He said. "I'm sorry I distracted you from whatever it was you were doing. I'm also sorry for hurting your pokémon." Joe looked at him.

"Apology accepted." He said kindly. He turned to leave.

"Hey, wait a second! I wasn't done yet!" Chuck suddenly shouted. Joe turned back around. Chuck calmed down again. "I wanted to give you something." He said, standing up from the sand now and walking forwards. "Usually I don't do this for trainers I battle outside the gym, but I feel that you are a different case." He reached Joe and held out his hand. In it was a small badge. Joe looked at him.

"You're giving me a gym badge?" He asked, slightly confused. Chuck nodded. Joe looked back at his hand. "Has that been in your fist during the whole battle?" He asked. Chuck nodded again. Joe winced. He could only imagine how painful it was crushing a badge with a pin in it into your palm, but Chuck looked barely scratched by it. There were no marks on his hand at all.

"That's the storm badge." He explained. Just show that to Jasmine in Olivine and that'll make her want to battle you alright." He chuckled. "Lord knows she's the tougher opponent." Joe took the badge and looked at it. It was almost comically shaped like punching fist, with a circular shape and four lines ingrained going vertically from the top, and a small circle poking from the left side out of the main circle. He put the badge with his collection and nodded at Chuck.

"Thank you." He said. Chuck nodded back.

"It was an honour to battle someone as talented as you." He return. Then he spun around and ran away. "Have fun getting back to Olivine!" He yelled as he disappeared of down the beach. Joe turned back to his friends.

"Alright." He muttered, yawning loudly and stumbling a little with tiredness. "Let's get going!"


	21. Chapter 21: Jasmine: The Iron Maiden

1 Hour later, 1 ride over the ocean, 1 long and exhausting trip, and finally the trio of trainers reached the shore of Olivine city again, exhausted, fed up and longing for a chance to sleep. That was all they wanted now. Sleep. Desperate, abiding, beautifully welcoming sleep. It called their names one by one, slowly lulling their eyes closed. It took a lot of mental fighting to ward it off. Ralph and Zephyr dropped to the beach, letting Joe, Winter and Silver off and allowing them to continue on walking. Winter withdrew Zephyr immediately, allowing him a rest. Ralph however would have to wait with them for their respite. Tiredly they continued on up the beach, heading back into the glistening ocean side city and towards the lighthouse. They took the lift to the top. They were too bothered to take the ladders. And, finally, after several hours of travel, they had finally made it back to where they started. They had made it back with the medicine and now they were delivering it.

"You got it!" Jasmine exclaimed, taking the pouch from Joe's hands and examining it quickly, looking surprised they had succeeded so quickly. "I'm amazed. You lot really are efficient." Joe smiled slightly, though he failed rather dramatically to look pleased due to his fatigued state.

"We can be." He said. His tone was too exhausted to sound cocky or smart. Jasmine smiled at him.

"I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am" She said, sounding overjoyed. "You've possibly helped just save a life. Thank you so much." She turned on her ankles back around to Ampharos, kneeling down by her friends side.

"Sorry we were a little late." Winter added. "There were a few incidents. Like giant whirlpools, and angry macho gym leaders." She smiled at Joe from the corner of her mouth. Joe smiled back.

"Don't worry about it." The gym leader told them. "Chuck's a real pain in the ass at first, but he's a nice enough guy after he thrashes you, or, of course, if you beat him. Either way once you battle him he acts like a normal human being." Jasmine paused. "Or at least close enough to one." Ampharos moaned in pain, its stomach grumbling sickly. It was barely able to lift its head of the ground now, its forehead wrinkled and its brain burning up. Jasmine placed the poultice under its snout-like nose, allowing it to inhale the strong medicinal scent.

"How long will it take?" Silver asked. "Before it gets well again, I mean." Jasmine looked to the three trainers who had made the deliver for her. She didn't need to answer them. Instead Ampharos itself answered their question. The smell of the potion was wafting up its tiny nostril and being received by its brain. Immediately it began to have its effect.

Within seconds Ampharos was already looking better than it had been. Its eyes seemed to regain a level of life they hadn't had earlier. It raised its head up, its stomach stopping its nauseating growling. Slowly it looked up at Jasmine, then its eyes turned to the lighthouse lamp, which had begun flashing and flickering. It was already losing power, and if it went out it would leave many ships in serious danger. The tall electric pokémon made a slight determined purring sound. It was like if someone had crossed a sheep's baa with a cat's meow. Then it began pushing itself back to its feet. Slowly it rose up, standing stronger on its large back legs, its long neck waiving slightly with the adjustment of balance. Then, undauntedly, it began stomping slowly forwards. Taking it time to get where t wanted, Ampharos moved forwards, heading for the humungous lamp stationed rotating at the centre of the glass walled room. Its body was still rather weak from the sickness, but it pushed on, impassably moving back to work. It stomped slowly to the light and tripped slightly, stumbling forwards. It reached out and stopped in front of the huge rotating bulb, closing its eyes so that the spinning light didn't bling it. It began to hunch up its body as sparks ran up and down its spine. Electricity formed in its furry wool, building up into a huge static cloud. It focused the jewel on its forehead onto the bulb, the small red oval shimmering with a yellow lightning tint. Then the man sized ampharos fired a single mighty bolt of electricity into it. The light flashed brightly, blinding everyone and everything in the room for a split second. The voltage had increased immensely. Quickly it began to dull again, so Ampharos kept going, releasing weaker and weaker bolts so that the light didn't go out, but neither did it blow up. It kept going, the light spinning still as it grew in strength. Eventually it was so bright it could illuminate a crescent moon on a foggy sea night. It was at this point Ampharos stopped. It took a step and admired its handwork. The lighthouse was running efficiently again. The light was fixed and ampharos was well enough to keep working it. Jasmine smiled proudly at her friend. Then she looked back at the trainers.

"I thank you for what you have done for us." She said.

* * *

Joe woke up the following morning, feeling exhausted. His head was aching slightly with tiredness, his legs and arms were recoiling from existence and through the simple room window light was coming through. Midday light. He quickly realised he had slept in. Joe reached out blindly to the end table by the bed and grabbed his watch. He managed to manoeuvre the item towards his face, turning it so he could read it.

"11:25 already?" He exclaimed in tired surprise. He sighed. "Must have been way past midnight when we got back then." He sat up slowly, holding his head as he felt his brain kicking itself back to life. His whole body seemed to have fallen into a weird kind of stasis overnight. His limbs felt like they'd been locked in ice. He budged his head a little to make his brain work faster. His memory was rebooting now. He remembered what had been arraigned the previous night. It came back to him like a flock of summer birds to a hot tropical island. He remembered that after he, Winter and Silver had given her the medicine for Ampharos she had made it better impressively quickly. Then she had made an offer to battle them at the gym, which Joe had obviously accepted. She hadn't exactly suggested any specific time, but as long as he went today Joe could imagine she was available to do so. He swung his legs of the bed and began getting dressed. He spotted Ralph lying asleep on one of the other empty beds. It appears someone, maybe one of Joe's friends, had been sleeping there not so long ago. But now they had left it and his crobat had moved it. Joe chuckled. He grabbed one of his shoes and threw it. The heel hit Ralph in the side. Suddenly he was awake, exclaiming loudly in surprise. Joe laughed. "Wakey Wakey, sleepyhead." He called, pulling his trousers up and putting his belt on. Ralph looked at Joe, seeing his trainer smile. A small disrespectful and annoyed growl came from his staring expression. Joe chuckled a little. "Come on, lazy!" He said walking over and retrieving his shoe again. "It's time to get rolling." Ralph rolled over and went back to sleep. Joe looked at his companion. "Come on now!" He exclaimed, grabbing Ralph with both arms and hauling him of the bed. "We've got some battling to do." Ralph kicked and screeched as he was carried away from the bed and out of the room.

Joe and Ralph found Winter and Silver waiting in the reception of Olivine city pokémon centre, the same play they happened to have slept in that night. It appeared that they had barely been waiting long, their hair slightly ruffled and their eyes baggy from sleep. Joe smiled and waved at them, dodging an aggravated bite from Ralph who was still being dragged along in his arms.

"Morning." They both said in unison. Joe nodded back at them, saying the same thing back.

"How long have you been waiting there?" He asked.

"About five minutes." Winter told him. "You needed a lie in so we decided to leave you. It's already midday, you know."

Joe nodded. "I know." Silver spoke up now.

"So what's the plan?" He asked. "We battle Jasmine and then we're off again?" Joe smiled a little.

"Pretty much." He agreed. "Unless either of you have anything to add in?" He added. His friends said nothing. He smiled, letting Ralph go finally as he stopped thrashing and calmed down. "Great." He said. "Then we may as well get going now then." He decided. He turned and headed for the door. Winter and Silver got up and followed after him, bringing a slightly grumpy Ralph with them.

It only took a short walk for the trio to reach the Olivine city gym. The large building was practically at the entrance to the town, standing not very tall and not very proud a few metres from the main gate entrance. Joe stepped up to the door and it slid open. He smiled a little. He never truly lost the feeling of excitement he got when they did that. It reminded him of the first gym battle he had ever had. While it hadn't gone well the first time around he remembered having fun, and he had made the gym leader one of his closest friends. He sighed at the memories. He wondered where Rocky was now. He shook his head and stepped inside, his friends following, wondering what he was standing around for.

They all looked at the inside of the gym they had just stepped into. It was probably the most well-lit gym they'd been in ever. Every corner of the room had a light on it. There were no shadows anywhere. And there was also a horrifically annoying glistening light coming from certain areas. The light was reflecting of the metal floor. In some areas the floor had even risen up, like someone had built the gym on a small mountain range and covered it with liquid metal. In fact every part of the gym that wasn't the stadium, stands or podiums was raised steel ground. It was certainly a unique spectacle to see. Joe continued his walk forwards, down the carved out walkway towards the stadium. Standing at its centre, in her light long skirted green dress, was Jasmine, smiling excitedly as they entered in.

"Good Morning!" She called as they noticed her. "Hope you all rested well.

"We did thanks." Joe said back. He stepped onto the stadium. Winter and Silver held back. "So, about that battle you promised." He said. Jasmine grinned.

"Yes, I remember." She told him. "You wish to battle now, then." She asked. "Not, maybe, earlier this morning?" She raised a smart eyebrow. Joe looked a little embarrassed.

"I overslept." He told her. Her face went back to smiling.

"Don't worry." She told him sweetly. "I was just teasing. I'm free to battle any time of the day. Besides, you were exhausted last night. You needed the rest." She took a step back, practically sliding across to her podium on invisible skates. She raised a commanding fist to the air. "So, trainer, do you accept the challenge of this gym leader?" She roared. Joe stepped up to his own podium, Ralph flying up with him. He smiled and nodded.

"I do." He said strongly. Jasmine lowered her arm again. She reached for a pokeball.

"In that case, let's not wait around any longer." She unclipped a single pokeball and held it in her hand. "Let's battle!" She yelled, and she threw the pokeball.

* * *

For a gym battle it was over quite quickly. Jasmine released her first pokémon, a small and simple Magnemite. The singular floating riveted ball of steel with a single eye and two magnets rotated in the air, waiting for its opponent to appear. Joe sent out his pokémon of choice now.

"Go, Quill!" He called. His quilava appeared on the field, flashing fire from his back and spine. Quick was clearly excited for another battle. It had been a while since he'd been able to have one. Winter and Silver to up seating positions on the stands, watching entertained as battle began. Jasmine made the first command.

"Magnemite, Thundershock!" She called. Magnemite began sparking, creating a tiny pocket of electricity in its metallic body. Then it fired. The tiny bolt shot across the battlefield.

"Dodge!" Joe commanded. Quill calmly but quickly rolled aside, avoiding the bolt. "Now, use ember!" Joe called. Quill spat a small flicker of flame from his mouth, hitting Magnemite in the eye. The floating magnet dropped instantly, being defeated already. Jasmine withdrew her first pokémon, not seeming disheartened by the quick loss. Instead she reached for her next pokémon.

"Go, Magneton!" She called. This next pokémon was literally three Magnemites fused together into a living pokémon triforceIt hovered, anticipating its opponent's actions. "Zap Cannon!" She called. Magneton gathered a huge collection of electricity inside its body and aimed it, preparing to fire. When it did it sent a titanic ball of electricity across the field, causing not only the air to spark but also the floor to sizzle.

"Move!" Joe roared. Quill rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the scorching shock of the attack. He missed the cannon ball of static, but a few small sparks caught his fur and did some minor damage. He recovered quickly from it however. Joe thought quickly. This opponent was much tougher then the last one, that was obvious from its attack and stance. A simple ember attack probably wouldn't take it out quickly. She he'd have to use something stronger. Then he remembered the new move he'd been trying to teach Quill.

"Quill, use Flame Wheel!" He called. Quill seemed to look a little concerned, but he did as he was told. He curled up into a ball and began rolling towards Magneton, slowly gaining speed. As he rolled forwards his whole body caught fire, igniting like a barrel of gasoline as he sped across the field, a blazing rotating tyre track. He left a flaming trail behind him. The inferno quilava slammed, full rolling body, into Magneton, striking it from the air like a set of bowling pins. That was two of Jasmine's pokémon defeated already. She was clearly getting worried by this. He wasn't supposed to be winning so quickly. She withdrew Magneton, looking desperate. She had only one pokémon left and she'd barely done a scratch on Joe's team. She was going to have to rely on her only remaining ace. Thankfully it was a rather big ace. She unclipped her third pokeball.

"Go, Steelix!" She called. The pokeball opened up and Joe was surprised by what he found himself looking at. It was like an onix that had been covered in molten steel and left to dry out again. That is the literal best description anyone could give this thing. Apart from not having the head horn and a bigger jaw and, of course, being made of metal and not rock, it was almost exactly the same in shape and size. And it was looming over the opposing side, placing Quill under a tall and quite intimidating shadow. Quill had stopped his flaming now, falling to halt and looking up at the beast before it. Jasmine smiled. "Now you're scared!" She said, speaking gleefully. She pointed her hand. "Steelix, crush him!" Steelix turned slightly, raising its tail up.

"Quill, use flame wheel but stay where you are!" Joe instructed simply. Quill began rotating on the spot, igniting again in a ball of fire. Steelix hovered its tail above him, preparing to squash the small fire mouse into the ground. Then its tail dropped, swinging downwards like an ungodly metal baseball bat (With a few stalagmites running down the sides). "Now!" Joe called. Quill sped aside, avoiding the tail as it struck the ground, making the whole building rock. But Quill was okay. He rotated and sped off, still blazing, rolling towards the metal giant before him. Steelix watched slowly as its opponents ran fearlessly towards it. Quill sped up, lit up and rammed right into Steelix's side. The titan toppled, surprising everyone in the room, even its own trainer. Steelix landed on its side, still conscious but rather stunned. Quill came back around for another attack.

"Iron Tail!" Jasmine yelled desperately. "Steelix lifted its tail up, glistening silver and furious. As Quill roled in it swung, wending the tail sliding across the frictionless floor. But, to its shock, Quill jumped right over the attack, taking a second to slow, place his feet down and push of the floor. The quilava leaped and rotated over the tail as if it was nothing. The last thing Steelix saw was the fiery ball of flaming pokémon sailing towards its head. Then blackness. Steelix collapsed, beaten already. The battle had been won, without so much as a few words and a single pokémon. Jasmine was so far past shocked there was no human word to describe it. She was in a state where she wouldn't have even been able to create understandable words anyway. Joe simply stepped away from his podium, smiling smugly, holding a hand out to pat Quill on the head as he extinguished again and returned to his trainer's side. Ralph gave him a small nod of awe as he came back in. Jasmine lowered her hands again and gave a small cough, finding her voice again.

"Well done." She managed to say, looking too stunned to say much else. She sounded like her voice had not only broken but shattered completely like thin glass. She withdrew Steelix, nearly dropping the pokeball as she did so. "I must admit…" She tried to say, stuttering a little, still in wild amazement. "I wasn't expecting you to be _that_ strong!" Joe smiled a little.

"Actually, neither was I." He admitted. Jasmine puffed her mouth, not sure what she was supposed to do next. She decided to simply follow the rules and award him.

"Well…" She said, pausing for a long time. "I guess you've earned my badge then." She stepped from the podium and walked up to Joe, pulling out the small piece of metal from a hidden pocket. She extended her arm and placed the badge in his open hand. The small piece of metal dropped into it. "That's the mineral badge." She told him. "I'm pretty sure you know what badges are used for, but you show that one to Pryce in Mahogany town and he'll probably battle you afterwards." She explained quickly. Joe looked at the badge. It was a simple blue octagon with a silver border around it, nothing more and nothing less. Joe put it with the others.

"Thank you for the battle." He said politely. "I guess I'd better be going then." Jasmine nodded. She was about to say something to him when suddenly they were interrupted… by Silver.

He stood up from the stands, raised his arms up and yelled out "I wish to battle!" Jasmine and Joe looked up at him. Even Winter was looking at him surprised. The redhead boy didn't back down though. He was asking to battle a gym leader. Joe placed his hand to his forehead. Clearly Silver had forgotten that he'd never battled any gym leaders before. Jasmine looked up at him.

"Umm." She said, not too sure what she was going to say. "Sure." She said eventually. "But I need to rest my pokémon quickly. Do you have any gym badges?" She asked.

"No!" Silver called. She continued to look at him, her expression now becoming questioning.

"Okay." She said, extending the vowels. She waved a hand down onto the field. "Sure, I'll battle you." She told him. "Just let me heal my pokémon up first, then we can get started." Silver smiled, pumping his arm a little. Joe had no idea what had gotten into him, but he was acting rather weird… at least more weird then normal. He didn't usually try to battle gym leaders. Joe had to wonder what was going through his head.

* * *

Looking down on the battlefield from the stands Joe could get a pretty good idea of what Silver had been thinking. Clearly the boy had taken a look at Joe's battle and thought he could do the same. He couldn't. He was going to get thrashed. Those were the first things Joe thought as he saw him walk down to the field, carrying swagger in his pockets like loose change. Ralph perched next to him, also looking a little surprised. Joe turned to him to see his friend pulling a face mild confusion. This was a basic mental state for Ralph. Joe turned the other way to face Winter now. She was shaking her head. Clearly she had either seen or heard what Silver had been thinking. Knowing Silver he'd probably blurted it all out to her. Joe leaned on his elbows at the seat edge and looked to his friend.

"What is he doing?" He asked. Winter looked back at him.

"I have no idea." She told him straight. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"Did he not say anything before he stood up?" He asked. "Could you tell if he was thinking anything?"

"All he said was 'I'm not going to be weak anymore', then he stood up and outright challenged Jasmine." She shook her head. "He's going to lose so badly." She muttered.

"He doesn't want to be weak?" Joe repeated, thinking the words over. "Why would he say that? Why would _he_ think _he's_ weak?"

"Beats me." Winter told him. She pointed slightly at the stadium. "But we'll see how that end up soon enough." She told him. The two friends fell silent again and watched as Silver and Jasmine took up positions.

Silver seemed rather excited, which probably wasn't a good thing. This was his first gym battle and he was battling the sixth Johto gym leader. This probably wasn't going to end well. Jasmine had taken ten minutes to place her pokémon into a healing device, then she'd turned back around and re-joined him on her side of the field. The two trainers took up stance, gripping a pokeball in their hand. The board on the side of the room switched on, bringing up the information needed for the battle. And then they waited, letting the other go first. In the end it was Silver who released his pokémon first.

"Go, Haunter!" He called. His pokeball touched down on the metal arena and popped open, releasing the limbless levitating spectre on the field. Haunter scratched its claws in the air, flexing its fingers, preparing to fight. Jasmine sent out her first pokémon, which turned out to be Magnemite again. There was a few seconds of anticipation, then battle began. Silver started off. "Haunter, shadow ball!" He called. Haunter formed a large ball of ghost energy in between its claws and hurled it at the floating magnet opponent. Magnemite floating simply aside, allowing the attack to pass by it slowly. Jasmine tutted a little. Joe and Winter facepalmed simultaneously. Ralph gave out a groan of idiocy. Haunter looked sad and Silver looked annoyed.

"Thundershock!" Jasmine instructed. Magnemite fired a weak bolt of static through the uncharged air, hitting Haunter and causing it to spark slightly. Silver clenched and unclenched his fists.

"He really should have seen that attack coming." Joe muttered. "He's just ruined any advantage he may have had." Winter shushed him.

"Give him chance." She told him. "The battle has only just begun after all. He may still win yet." They turned back to the battle. Silver was pointing his finger forth.

"Confuse Ray!" He yelled. Haunter spat a small ball of fast, rotating ghostly light at Magnemite, sending it flying towards the floating electric metal ball. The ray began spinning around Magnemites head, leading the floating ball of steel to spin with it, following the ray's movement. The small ball sped up its spinning, orbiting Magnemite like a satellite. It was starting to look like a weird kind of solar system display they were making in the middle of the field. Finally the ray faded away and Magnemite stopped spinning, leaning slightly on a pivot as it came to a halt. Its single eye rolled as its vision became mixed and blurred. The whole world was shaking and rotating. Now Silver had his advantage back. "Shadow ball!" He called. Haunter again fired the slow moving ball of ghostly energy. It flew across the field and struck Magnemite in the side as it tried to figure out where it was. The living magnet pokémon dropped downwards a little, the attack buffeting it and knocking out its electrostatic gravitation for a split second. Unfortunately the result of this attack was it gave Magnemite its concentration back. The small ball of steel shook its body and glared at Haunter, able to focus again with a clear mind.

"Sonic Boom!" Jasmine called. Magnemites magnets began to spin around on its body. Then it made a rupturing metal screech of a sound. The waves formed a jagged scar in the air, slicing straight through Haunter's body. But, to Jasmine's surprise, the ghost felt no damage. It just stayed floating where it was, looking unimpressed, and the scar of air passing through it harmlessly. Only when it faded away could she see it hadn't even touched it. The attack had just gone straight through. She cursed herself for forgetting normal moves couldn't hurt ghosts. Silver grinned to himself. He had gained a small advantage of time.

"Hypnosis!" He called. Haunter's eyes flashed pink and purple, swirling mysteriously as it glared down the opponent. Magnemite looked back at it, its single eye fixated. Then it collapsed in a sparking pile, its magnets vibrating to make an occasional snoring sound. Jasmine groaned. She pulled the pokeball back out and withdrew Magnemite again. She was going to have to train him a bit more if he was going to be a really battle pokémon. Considering he was her newest pokémon he was much less experienced then the rest of her team. But now it was time for them to get some practice.

"Very nice start." She spoke to Silver now, sounding slightly like a teacher. "You can at least take down one of my pokémon easily enough." She reached for another pokeball. "But now the real test comes up. Can you defeat the rest of my team?" Silver smiled overconfidently.

"Beat them?" He laughed. "I'll terminate them!" Jasmine grinned. That was the response she had been respecting. She wondered what other expressions he could show when she wiped the floor with him.

"Alright then." She said, holding her second pokeball up in her hands. "Then it's time for you to prove that." She threw the pokeball. "Go, Magneton!" She called. The pokeball opened and released the conjoined Magnemite trio that was an entirely different pokémon onto the steel field. Silver looked impressed.

"Holy Cow!" He exclaimed. "It's made friends!" There was a small snicker from the tiny watching audience. Jasmine grinned at the edge of her mouth.

"A perfect example of teamwork, I'd say." She told him. "Considering they're fused together they have to work together to get anything done." Suddenly she jumped back into the battle, throwing out her arm and making a command. "Magneton, Tri Attack!" She called. Each separate Magnemite that made up the bulky giant form began gathering energy from its magnets, forming three different powered balls of energy. One was fire, one was electricity and the third was ice. The three balls of energy conjoined at the centre of the pokémon and fired, flying at fast speed towards the opponent.

"Look out!" Silver yelled. Haunter was to slow to react. The attack hit it square in the chest, creating flashing sparks all around its body. The ghost rolled backwards, floating around in the air until eventually it regained levitation at the right height. Fortunately for Silver Haunter looked quite okay after the attack. He smiled. "Okay, now it's time to hit it back." He said. His thought process was a thing that big and bulky must move quite slowly. That would allow him to make shadow ball hit more accurately as it wouldn't be able to dodge as many as its smaller evolution. So, logically, that would make the attack more efficient. He pointed his finger again. "Haunter, use Shadow Ball!" He commanded. The one thing Silver had missed however was the steel types resistance to physical attacks. Haunter formed the attack in its hands, aimed it and threw it, sending it spinning across the battlefield and into the chest of the trio Magnemite, dubbed Magneton. The three pokémon recoiled and returned to their floating station, waiting patiently for their next instruction. Silver looked stunned. "What?" He exclaimed. "That did hardly anything!" Jasmine smiled a little.

"What were you expecting?" She asked. "You threw a ball at a steel type. A big steel type. Didn't you know they had tough shells?" Silver growled a little. He didn't like being talked down to by anyone. He clenched his fists.

"Okay." He muttered. "That means I just have to be smarter about this." Then he had an idea. "Haunter." He called. Haunter looked back at him. "How do you feel about playing martyr today?" He asked. Haunter did not like the sound of that. Silver smiled. "Sure you're up to it." He reassured him. "I want you to set up a curse on Magneton there. Doesn't have to be a big one, just one strong enough to bring it down after a few minutes. Can you do that? "Haunter still looked unsure, but it knew that when it came to its trainers command it had no choice but to comply. It nodded sadly. Silver smiled. "Great." He said. He waved a hand. "Well then." He said, slightly insensitively. "Get on with it. Use curse on that big steel triangle." Haunter sighed and turned back around. It clenched its claws and shut its eyes, focusing its energy on cursing it opponent. Jasmine saw the opening in the opponents defence and went in to attack.

"Magneton, use Zap Cannon!" She instructed. Magneton began forming a huge electric ball of impossible power in between its three bodies. The attack grew in size and scale, forming into an unstoppable force. It took focused and prepared to fire. When it did so the cannon ball was wide and shocking. Sparks flew everywhere. Haunter finished his move just in time to see its awe inspiring majesty flying straight towards its face. There was no time left to react. It took the ball straight to face. The explosion was like raging lightning! Haunter collapsed to the ground, static wriggling across its body like worms. The ghost had been exercised to a point of exhaustion, and now it had been vanquished. Silver groaned. He withdrew Haunter again, raising the pokeball to eye level and glaring at it.

"A nice try." He said loudly. "But try to do better next time." He clipped it back to his pocked. Jasmine raised an eyebrow.

"What did you just say?" She asked. He looked over at her.

"Nothing." Silver said defensively. "What's it to you?" Jasmine looked a little shocked.

"Did you just insult your pokémon?" She asked more thoroughly. Silver continued to look at her.

"I may have." He muttered. "Why should you care anyway?" Jasmine continued to look stunned. Then she shook her head, wiping a hand and swatting away the thought.

"Never mind." She muttered. "Let's continue. You send out your next pokémon."

"Already ahead of you." Silver smiled. He unclipped a pokeball and sent out his next pokémon. "Your turn, Kadabra." Kadabra appeared on the field, standing calmly and holding its spoon-holding arm up, focusing its mental energy onto that single piece of metallic cutlery. Jasmine looked a little impressed.

"More special attack tanks." She said. "Gotta admit, I was expecting you to have…"

"Weaker pokémon?" Silver asked, finishing her sentence. Jasmine rolled her lower lip a little.

"I wasn't really meaning to say that." She admitted. "But sort of." Silver looked at her.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." He told her.

"If it's a book written by Silver I'd definitely judge it by the cover." Joe whispered quietly. Winter laughed. The battle continued.

"Kadabra, use Psybeam!" Silver called. Kadabra aimed its spoon in front of its face like the crosshair of a sight. From the tip of the spoon a long spiralling beam of pink and yellow energy spun out quickly, expanding out as it moved. It struck Magneton, causing it to flinch up where it levitated. It took no physical damage, but the mental strain it caused had clearly tired it out.

"Fight back with Swift!" Jasmine countered. Magneton recovered from the attack and spun its three bodies in a rotation, causing small white stars to fly out from them. The stars grouped up and sped outwards, flying towards Kadabra. The psychic type could do nothing to avoid them. It was an unavoidable move. Instead Kadabra took the attack like a champ, the stars hitting it in the chest and causing a small amount of damage. Silver had a backup for this.

"Recover quickly." He instructed. Kadabra held its spoon gripping hand to its chest. The spoon began to glow white, the energy it was forming jumping from the shaped piece of flexy metal into Kadabra. The energy it created seemed to rejuvenate Kadabra, giving it more energy and strength to fight with. It already looked healthier. Kadabra may not be able to take many attacks, but with this strategy it wouldn't need to. Jasmine cursed quiet. And, as she did so, the curse Magneton had been afflicted with came into action. A grey aura appeared around it suddenly, glowing lightly and faintly around each body. Magneton flinched slightly, taking a sudden damage from the aura emitted around it. Eventually this would weaken it too much for it to continue in battle. Eventually it would fall. It was just a matter of time. Jasmine refused to let this get the better of her though.

"Screech!" She instructed. Magneton emitted a high pitched metallic screeching from its multiple magnets. The sound caused Kadabra and everyone else in the room to cover their ears. "Now, use swift!" Magneton spun and fired a collection of slicing star shapes at its opponent. The cloud of shimmering five pointed shapes flew through the air, locking in on their target and moving in a glittering curtain of light through the air. Kadabra was too busy trying to block out the screeching metal sound to bother defending itself. The swift attack knocked it off its feet, causing a hefty amount of damage. It was quickly back to its feet however, ready to attack back.

"Set up a Future Sight!" Silver instructed. Kadabra clenched its arms towards its chest, a pink aura glowing across its body. Then the aura faded again, disappearing in an instant, as if it had never appeared in the first place. Nothing happened. "Now quickly use a Restore." Silver continued. Kadabra kept its arms close, now glowing white with a quick flash of light. Again, the light faded quickly, except when it did Kadabra was looking a lot healthier for it. Now it was Jasmine's turn again.

"Zap Cannon!" She commanded. Magneton began to gather electricity to its centre point. Silver commanded Kadabra to wait. The psychic pokémon waited, patient for its opponents attack to be used. Magneton looked like it was struggling to stay up. The ghostly aura surrounding it was glowing slowly brighter, ever-so-slowly sapping the life from the giant collection of magnets. It wouldn't be long before it went out of this battle for good. But at this point it was unwilling to go down. Magneton fired, shooting a giant ball of sparking electricity from its centre and sending it blasting towards Kadabra mercilessly.

"Now, dodge!" Silver instructed. Kadabra flung itself aside, the blast of static shooting past and hitting the far back metal wall. Sparks flew everywhere, charging the metallic walls and floor with a shocking electric current. Fortunately it didn't reach the stands or podiums otherwise Silver, Joe and Winter may have been shocked by several hundred watts of electricity. Kadabra however came out from the attack perfectly fine, lifting itself off the floor with its psychic powers and hovering low over the metal field. "Psybeam!" Silver instructed. Kadabra aimed its spoon, focused its mental energy onto the tip and fired a rotating spiral beam of pink and yellow psychic energy from it. The attack hit Magneton's full body, causing it to shiver and shake. The attack proved to be the finishing blow. The three magnetic forms collapsed in on each other, clumping to the ground in a combined pile. Jasmine sighed.

"One more yanked down by an effective magnetic pull." She muttered. She unclipped the pokeball again and withdrew magneton from the field. "A good turn, Magneton." She praised it, soothing the pokeball with a kind hand. "Maybe next time." She clipped it back to her pocket. There was only one pokémon left on her side, and everyone knew who it was. She didn't wait to give Silver a chance to adjust for it. She unclipped the last pokeball and threw it. "Go, Steelix!" She yelled. The ball sailed through the air and landed, popping open and releasing the titanic metallic snake onto the field of steel. Steelix towered over everything, rotating its multiple metal body pieces in a tumble drier motion. Kadabra looked up at the towering beast. It showed no emotion.

"Stand your ground!" Silver instructed demandingly. Kadabra held its ground, unblinking and motionless as it floated in the air with a low humming linger. Jasmine tapped her feet and pointed a long nailed finger.

"Steelix, crush it!" She demanded. Steelix lifted its tail up at its side, then swung it around, lashing it like a medieval flail. The heavy tip slammed into Kadabra's side, flinging it across the room and into the wall where it impacted with a painful grunt. Kadabra collapsed to the ground a second later, the energy completely squashed out of it. Silver growled. He rubbed his heel into the ground.

"No!" He exclaimed in anger. "No! I can't believe it! You were so close! You useless moron!" He glanced to the other end of the field. Jasmine was staring at him, her mouth open.

"How can you possibly bring yourself to say those words to your own pokémon?" She asked, astounded. Silver looked back at her, unmoved.

"I just do." He told her. "After all, he did fail me. I'm aloud to get angry, aren't I?" If it was possible for Jasmine to look even more shocked then she already was she had somehow found a way.

"No!" She told him straight. "No, you aren't! Getting angry with your pokémon does nothing to help. It'll only make them angry back. Then where would you be if you needed them? They won't work with you, they won't battle with you. You may as well not even have them if you're going to treat them badly."

"Then how would I keep them in line?" Silver asked, sounding arrogantly ignorant. Jasmine closed her mouth now, giving him a stern stare.

"Trust and respect." She told him simply. "Maybe you need someone to really show you what those things are, as you are clearly someone who doesn't know them very well." She clicked her finger. Steelix lowered its hulking body towards the floor, bringing its head just above the ground and eye level with its trainer. Jasmine smiled at her pokémon. She stroked its slippery metal head with a warm hand, and Steelix smiled back. "Alright, Steelix." She said, speaking loudly and confidently. "No playing around with him anymore. Finish his final pokémon with all your power, you understand?" Steelix nodded stoically. Jasmine patted it twice on the side of the head. "Atta boy." She said, smiling. "Go get 'em!" Steelix reared back, shimmered in the bright stage lights, prepared itself for battle… and was suddenly blasted in the back of the head by a random time traveling psychic attack. It recoiled and fell forwards, hitting its head on the floor. Jasmine gasped in surprise. Silver smiled smugly to himself.

"Hey, I guess Kadabra isn't so bad after all." He turned to his unconscious pokémon which was still lying by the wall. "Good job, Kadabra!" He called. Kadabra made a painful call back, barely conscious enough to do so. Steelix was getting back up now, looking rather bothered from the sudden and surprising attack. Its mouth had become a menacing bare of teeth. Its eyes were narrowed at its target. But it had to wait. Silver still had his pokémon to send out. And he'd only just remembered that fact. He withdrew Kadabra finally and reached for his pokeball belt, pulling out his last of the three at choice. He looked sternly at it. "Looks like it's just you left, bud." He muttered. "Let's hope you can deal with this alone." He aimed the pokeball and threw it. "Go, Croconaw." The pokeball opened, releasing his starter pokémon onto the battle field.

Steelix grinned to itself. _'A small wet morsel.'_ It thought menacingly. _'This'll be easy!'_ It raised its tail in preparation. Silver thrusted his arm forwards.

"Croconaw, use water gun!" He commanded firmly. Croconaw swilled up its mouth and spat a large blob of water at the titanic foe before it. The attack hit Steelix with ease. But, to his surprise, Steelix showed no sign of being hurt. It was clear by looking at the board that it had taken damage, as its health had dropped by a small fraction. But Steelix was too bulky and tough to pay any attention to the attack, even if it proved to be super effective. Jasmine smiled. It was her tern now, and she had size on her side. And, as a smart trainer knows, size is everything in these battles.

"Steelix, use rock throw!" She commanded. Steelix slammed its tail into the ground, causing the steel to crack and reveal solid rock boulders underneath. It scooped one up with its tail tip and flicked it up into the air. Then, using its tail as a baseball bat, it slapped the rock ball at Croconaw, causing the air to roar.

"Dodge it!" Silver cried in desperation. Croconaw shimmied aside in a swift movement, leaving the boulder to smash on the ground where it had been, shattering into many tiny pieces. Silver smiled with pleasure. "Now, get it back with Bite!" He instructed. Neither he nor Croconaw saw the horrible repercussions that would come from this action. Croconaw ran thoughtlessly out into the field, scrambling wildly on both back legs and front, snapping trap jaw open wide to crush. It charged as Steelix moved about, its tail sliding past its front. Croconaw spotted the tail tip, focused on it and leapt, pushing off the ground with his powerful back legs. He fell back down to earth, front legs forwards and jaw open wide. It bit down hard with both jaws into Steelix's tail tip, sinking its sharp crocodile teeth into its metallic skin. There was a crunch, and then there was a crack. And then there was a muffled scream. Croconaw had now felt the repercussions it had failed to notice before. It wailed in impossible pain. Its mouth was stuck around Steelix's tail tip, its teeth dug into the metal and aching as if a really bad dentist was trying to pull them all out at the same time without anaesthetic. Jasmine laughed slightly.

"Seriously." She muttered. "You didn't see that coming? You that one's your own fault as a trainer." She crossed her arms. "Steelix, I think it's time our friend went for a fly, don't you?" Steelix smiled evilly. It lifted its tail off the ground, bringing the grabbing Croconaw up with it. Then, with a simple and almost subtle flick of the tip, Croconaw was released from his hanging position and sent sailing across the field like a rotating crocodile skin handbag. Silver watched as his partner fell like a blue scaly meteorite, until he landed with an earth shattering impact. Fortunately for it there was no crater, or strike wave that followed, but the pain it felt was still very much real and very much painful. Silver growled.

"Get up, you mess!" He commanded. "It's getting the better of you! Get back up and show it who the real boss here is!" Croconaw groaned in response. It raised its head up, rubbing its snout soothingly. The pain on its jaws still felt like it was present. Steelix flicked its tail tip in the air menacingly, patiently waiting for its opponent to just try and attack it again. Croconaw glared the giant metal snake down. Then it charged, pulling a claw back with a glowing white shimmer.

"Screech!" Jasmine instructed simply. Steelix raised its head to the roof and began crunching and rubbing its teeth together. The metallic scraping created a horrific screeching sound. Croconaw's charge fell to a halt, covering its ears in pain as the sound deafened it completely. As this happened it was left completely vulnerable. Jasmine made her next command.

"Now, use Iron Tail!" She instructed quickly. Steelix swung its tail around, throwing more than half its body across the field and into Croconaw's side. The blue scaly aquatic reptile was knocked down flat, crushed by the force of the steel beast. Slowly it pushed itself back to its feet, looking wounded and breathing heavily. "Slam!" Jasmine roared. Croconaw had barely gotten back to its feet before it saw Steelix charging forth like a derailed train.

"Stop it now!" Silver roared desperately. Croconaw fired a water gun, but against Steelix's tough metal shell it did nothing. Croconaw was slammed aside, getting steamrolled by the huge metal tank. Steelix rolled on, turning back around and heading back to its side of the field. Croconaw was crushed into the ground, its eyes spinning. Silver growled deeply. His eyes were flaming with fury. "GOD DAMN IT, YOU USELESS SACK OF CRAP!" He screamed mercilessly. "GET! UP!" Croconaw groaned slightly. Slowly it pushed itself up from the pit it had been smashed into. As it raised to its feet it kept its head low, looking battered and bruised and barely breathing. But it stood there defiantly, like a reanimated zombie. Slowly its head rose up, looking at its much larger opponent. Its eyes were glowing with red flame. Silver smiled gleefully. "Now, take that monster down with all your might!" He roared.

Croconaw let out a low reptilian growl, like a T-rex with a vengeance. He took a step forwards. Steelix grinned to itself. It raised its tail. Croconaw took another step. Steelix glared menacingly as its weakened opponent refused to stay down. Croconaw took another step, this time speeding up its movements into a slow walk. Another step followed, along with another, and another. Steelix brought its tail swinging round. Silver closed his eyes, assuming he was done for. Croconaw didn't slow. It kept walking, even though the tail was coming straight towards it. Steelix's tail swung down and slammed Croconaw into the ground. Silver sighed. He had lost. He wasn't surprise. Jasmine smiled. Steelix grinned evilly. It lifted its tail away again. Then they were all surprised by something they would assume impossible. Croconaw was gone. It wasn't lying struck defeated on the floor. Steelix looked stunned, its tail flicking beside its head. Then it felt something light and harmless tap its head. At first it assumed it was a small rock, or a piece of material. That happened now and then. Sometimes debris would land on it, but it never took any harm. Then it felt a weird scratching sensation, as if it had an itch on the top of its skin. Again it ignored it. Steelix turned to its trainer, smiling proudly. It took it a few seconds to realise that Jasmine was not looking back, but rather at something on it. Steelix's eyes rolled upwards. Then it felt an impossibly painful slashing sensation inside its head. It screeched in serious pain. Croconaw was hanging on by its eyehole rims, digging a sharp claw deep through its steel head. The metal snake writhed in pain, trying to shake it off. Croconaw slid over its forehead, hanging in front of the monsters face like a long blue scaly fringe. Steelix glared at the prey before its eyes. It opened its mouth. And Croconaw took its advantage to the fullest. As Steelix's mouth opened Croconaw spat several blasts of water gun straight down its throat. Steelix began to choke. Then, with a grumbling and grunting gurgle, it slammed onto its side. Steelix was out. Miraculously Croconaw had pulled through and won. Jasmine was astonished, but not as much as Silver was. The redheaded trainer punched his fist so hard to the sky that he caused it to fracture and fall apart.

"YES!" He roared, using so much masculine power in one shout that he supposed puberty in a single word. "YYEEEESSSSS! I WON! I GOD DAMN WON! YEAH, BABY!" Croconaw jumped off Steelix's unconscious body, looking exhausted and fed up. It was too tired to celebrate. But that didn't stop Silver from running up to him and hugging him in a bear grip. "You beautiful pile of scales, you!" He cheered, bringing Croconaw close. The three foot tall bipedal crocodile gurgled with surprise, struggling to breathe. Silver didn't care. He hugged his companion like he hadn't seen him in years. Joe and Winter looked at them embracing in the middle of the field.

"Well I'll be damned." Joe muttered. "He actually won."

"I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it." Winter said, nodding, her face stunned and white. "But he really did it. I don't even know what to say about that."

"I don't think there's anything to say." Joe told her. He turned to Ralph. Before that second he had no idea that a crobat could look flabbergast, but right now he was looking into the face of genuine purple surprise. Joe looked back at the field, shaking his head.

Jasmine was in a stupor at this point. Her eyes were so open they were practically poking out from her face. She blinked twice, inhaled, and exhaled. Silver looked at her, grinningly arrogantly.

"I do believe that's one gym badge you owe me." Silver stated outright. He held his flat hand open, waiting for his reward. Jasmine looked at his hand, then at his face. She turned her head to the right, looking at her defeated Steelix lying in a metallic coil on the iron floor. She turned back to Silver, seemingly regaining her professional cool. She coughed, prepared her throat and readied to talk.

"Well, under the circumstances…" She began. "The result of your victory within this hall against me would normally result in you being gifted my gym badge as a result, signifying your defeat of me."

Silver whooped happily. "All right!" He cheered.

"However." Jasmine said suddenly, her professional smile fading away. "Due to certain breaches of battle rules I noticed during our fight, and, under the power I have within this location, I have decided that you, my opponent, will not be leaving this place with a gym badge to your name." Silver's mouth dropped.

"What?!" He exclaimed. His voice was an oncoming fury. "You can't do that? I beat you!" Jasmine shook her head.

"I can if I decide to." She told him straightforwardly.

"As a gym leader, it's your job to hand out badges to trainers who defeat you in battle." Silver told her enraged at the very idea she was suggesting. Jasmine looked at him calmly and folded her arms behind her back.

"I can, and I can give you the very reasons why I am doing so right now!" She told him. She raised a finger and pointed to it. "You abuse and mistreat your pokémon. You give them no respect or love to keep them on your side. You do not respect them as living things. You are rude to them. You treat them like they are just tools. You do not respect their power. You do not make them feel confident. Instead you shout and swear at them. You give them no confidence in yourself. You act recklessly and are a liability to everyone around you, purely because you do not think about what decisions you make, before you make them. You are a terrible trainer and a terrible person." She inhaled, finishing her point. "And because of that you do not deserve to have my gym badge. You don't even deserve to be a trainer!" Silver looked Jasmine in the eyes, standing straight and menacingly in front of her.

"Who the hell are you to tell me how to be a trainer?" He demanded, clearly trying to keep his cool. He wasn't succeeding. Jasmine folded her arms.

"That's my decision." She told him. "You can either accept it or you can scream and shout like a kid. Either way, you aren't getting a badge." Silver was steaming at the ears. His feet began to move, his hands clenching into fists.

"I think it's time we went." Joe said, shooting up from his seat and running onto the battlefield. He, Winter and Ralph ran onto the field and grabbed Silver by the arms as he stomped towards Jasmine. They tried to drag him away but he proved to be a struggle to hold back as he shoved his finger through the air at the gym leader.

"You cheating bitch!" He roared viciously. "I'll see you tried for this. You are so sued, you hear me! Sued!" Joe and Winter dragged him out through the front door, leaving Jasmine stunned next to her unconscious Steelix in a wrecked and destroyed gym. She was wondering what the foundation was going to think of this situation.

* * *

"Sit down, my brothers." Archer said. Proton and Petrel sat down in their chairs in his office, siting at the desk in front of their boss. Archer sat on the opposite side, his face mask on, Ariana standing next to him with a sinister smile. "As I'm sure you're aware, Ariana here has succeeded in her mission in capturing the legendary Lugia." He stated.

"Yeah, we know." Proton said, sounding bothered. "She hasn't shut up about it since." Ariana shot him a look.

"Pipe down, boy." Petrel warned him, his voice not raising in tone. Archer continued with what he was saying.

"And, now that we have most of the plan already underway, there's only one thing that still remains in our way." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "And I'm sure you know who it is." The commanders all nodded.

"That boy." Proton stated.

"And his friends." Ariana added for him.

"Exactly." Archer told them. "He's a pain, but not immortal. He is just a child. Dealing with him shouldn't be tough, even if he's stronger then he may seem." He leaned into the desk. "That is why I'm sending you three, and you three alone, to face him and defeat him." Proton and Petrel looked at each other.

"Uh, that would be an honour, boss." Proton said nervously. "But…"

"But the two of us have already tried to battle that child and his friends." Petrel spoke up for him. "They know our tactics and our methods. They'd be expecting us. They know how to fight us."

"And that is why I'm sending you both at the same time." Archer told them. So they can face you both at the same time. And besides, they've never faced Ariana before." He turned to his second in command. "I trust that she will deal with him if you two fail." Ariana smiled slyly.

"He won't last a second in a battle against me, sir." She said confidently. Proton tried to speak up.

"But, sir, we don't know where he is." He told him quickly.

"Actually we do." Archer told his commander. "Ariana's team ran into them at Whirl Island. That would suggest they are either leaving Olivine and arriving at Cianwood, or leaving Cianwood and arriving at Olivine. The only place they can be past there is route 39 and 38. And fighting them there should be no problem. You'll be away from anyone they can call for help."

"But…" Proton tried to argue.

"And you can take the blimp, of course." Archer added. Proton looked at his boss.

"Sir, it's not ready." He argued.

"It will be." Archer told him. Petrel looked at his boss.

"Even if we fight him, what do you expect us to do with him?" he asked, his posh, uptight voice protruding from his lips in a solid sound form. Archer was clearly smiling behind his mask.

"Do I need explain everything to you morons?" He asked. "When you find the boy I want you to defeat him, and his friends if you need to. Then, when you've done that, bring them back here so I can deal with them." He tapped his fingers together. "As much as I hate to admit it he is the last part of our plan. Bring him to me…" He stated sternly. "And I'll make sure that we, Team Rocket, need nether worry about any trainers, or police or even gods ever again!"


	22. Chapter 22: War Begins

The trio returned to the pokémon centre, dragging an enraged Silver with them, restraining him by the arms. He was still fighting back, furious about his refused victory and reward. The nurse gave them a helping hand, offering to heal his and their pokémon as she did so. Eventually they managed to lock him in the on location dormitory, leaving him in there for an hour or so until he calmed down. Croconaw decided to stay with him to keep an eye on him, and possibly threaten to bite him if he tried to escape. And while Silver was safely locked up, Joe and Winter were left having to wait for a while. They sat at the seats in the reception, waiting as their pokémon were healed up, but quickly they both got bored. A few more minutes past and Winter offered to go out and grab them all some lunch from a nearby shop. This left just Joe and Ralph in the reception now. It was surprisingly quite today. There were no other trainers entering in or out. In fact there were none walking around in the city either? Today must be a day off for travellers, or something like that. Joe decided that he wasn't just going to sit around for the whole wait. He had time to kill, and there was a phone. He could call up his uncle, see how he was doing, let him know that he was okay right now and that he, Winter and Silver had been keeping up their pursuit of Team Rocket. He took a few more seconds, about thirty to be precise, to decide that was what he was going to do. Then he got up from the seats, leaving Ralph behind to watch him, and walked over to the PC. He flicked it on, dialled in the number code, and picked up the receiver. Five seconds later somebody answered. The screen buzzed and bared the face and stance of his uncle, Walker Glende.

"Hey, my boy." He exclaimed, surprised that Joe was calling so soon, but also happy to see him. "How are you?" Joe smiled.

"Good Morning, Uncle." He said. "I've been good. We're in Olivine City right now."

"Already?" Walker asked, seeming surprised by this. "Last time we spoke you on your way to Ecruteak. How long were you walking for?"

Joe shrugged. "Well, actually, we've been here a few days already." He admitted. "Although yesterday we were travelling back and forth between here and Cianwood."

"You crossed the ocean?" Walker asked. "That must have been tiring, especially if you only just arrived yesterday." Joe nodded.

"It was." He admitted, stretching slightly. His uncle chuckled.

"Anyway, how have you been?" He asked interestedly. "How's your adventure going?" Joe sighed.

"It's been interesting." He muttered. "We just battled Jasmine actually, Silver and I. He lost." He chuckled a little. "But that's six gym badges I have now, so I'm quite glad I've gotten this far."

"And so you should be." His uncle told him. "Six badges isn't an easy collection to obtain. I imagine Chuck gave you a tough time, didn't he?" He chuckled. Joe laughed as well.

"Yeah." He said. "You've met him yourself?"

"Oh yes." Walker told his nephew. "I've met Chuck alright. Admittedly he wasn't a gym leader at the time, he was only a trainee, but he still had the exact same attitude he does now." Walker smiled to himself. "That was way after my heyday, though." He looked back at Joe through the screen. "So you've been keeping your team well trained?" He asked.

Joe nodded. "The best I can." He said, a small grin on his face. "There's only five of us now, though. On the way to Ecruteak me and Winter decided to trade, and she took Mar. The scyther she gave me proved to be too dangerous to keep." Walker nodded, listening constantly.

"They can be." He agreed. "Scyther's aren't always the most trustable of pokémon. But you, Ralph, and the rest of your team are all doing well?" He asked.

"Yes." Joe told him, using a small hint of teenage restraint that is usually heard when their parent or, in this case, guardian, starts asking questions or making inspirational comments and speeches. Walker smartly picked up on this time.

"Alright, I won't ask about it then." He said, smiling slightly. "It's still good to hear from you, though." He told him.

"Hang on a second, Uncle." Joe said, leaning forward a little. His bag was wriggling and kicking against his spine. He gave a paternal smile to himself. 'Somebody's awake again.' He thought, grinning widely. He slid the bag gently of his back and placed it carefully on the ground. He unzipped the slightly open cover, placed his arms inside and pulled out the larger, heavier and still just as happy togepi baby from inside. Casey gurgled and laughed in the infantile way he always did. Joe grinned blissfully as he held his orphaned child in his arms. "I think somebody want to see his Great Uncle." Joe stated, glancing at the screen with his uncle on it. He turned Casey around to face the screen. Through the computer Joe could see and hear his only family go 'Awe.' In the most unlikely adoring way.

"He's getting bigger." Walker stated, chuckling a little. Joe looked at his togepi friend. He hadn't even realised how heavy he was getting. His bag had felt like he was carrying a giant tanker. But he put up with it. Actually he'd barely even thought about it at all. Casey had been asleep since they'd arrived in Olivine town. He'd even slept through the whole traveling across the ocean. Thank god Joe's bag hadn't been pulled underwater on lost when they went into the whirlpool. Fortunately it had stayed mostly dry. And Casey had stayed perfectly healthy over all that time. Joe rubbed his togepi's spiky head, causing him to giggle joyfully. "It's good to see that you really are taking care of yourself." Walker told his nephew. His face suddenly became more serious. "But I have some more pressing matters I need to discuss now." Joe's smile faded.

"Go on." He said. Walker paused for a second.

"I would prefer that we spoke alone." He said. His eye glanced at Casey. Joe looked down at the grinning togepi in his arms.

"It's okay." He told him. He won't understand what you're saying."

"Nonetheless." His uncle stated. "I'd feel more comfortable saying it without him having to hear." Joe sighed.

"Okay." He muttered. "Give me a second." He slowly placed Casey back in the bag and made sure he was comfortable before zipping it almost all the way back up again. Casey gave him a concerned blink as the bag was closed, and he continued to peep out through the tiny air hole afterwards. Joe stood back up straight again and looked at the screen, his face more serious. "Alright." He stated. "What is it you wanted to tell me?" Walker rubbed the back of his greying head. It was clear that whatever he was going to say was important, maybe even slightly uncomfortable or embarrassing. Joe had never known his uncle to be a man who'd shy away from sharing information, but there had been that once. That one time when his uncle had dropped a huge bombshell on him. And it had clearly taken a lot out of him to say that thing. From the look of his face now, this information could almost be as big as that time.

"Joe…" He stated slowly, pausing to formulate his sentence. "I spoke with the professor since the last time we spoke." He informed him. "I also got in touch with Professor Elm. Apparently there's more and more strange events and experiences, similar to the ones you've had, popping up all over Johto. And, apparently, many of these reports have had claims of Team Rocket sighting conjoined with them. So it's not only isolated to you." He paused. "They're definitely starting up whatever play they may have in mind. But we've had a small bit of luck on the information side. Giovanni got in touch, too." He had dropped a bombshell so big it could cover the whole of Ireland. Joe looked confused.

"How and why did he find you?" He asked. Walker shrugged.

"It's not like we're out of touch. Remember I used to work for Giovanni a long time ago. He's a different man to then, but I certainly didn't give him my phone number. He must have got to me through his student, or whoever that black clad boy was."

"You mean Samuel." Joe asked. Samuel was the gym leader for the Viridian City gym back in Kanto. He had stalked and followed Joe all across Kanto before confronting him as he went to fight Archer, then calling in Giovanni to end the fight. He was a weird one, but he certainly knew what _he_ was doing, even if everyone else didn't. Walker nodded.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Giovanni contacted me. Apparently he's been able to get a lot of information from within the rocket base. The spy he has there has been able to fill him in on a lot of information. From what he told me, Archer is planning to capture a legendary pokémon of some kind. He doesn't know which one, however. He also wasn't able to find out why." Joe suddenly looked quite terrified, but not only by this information.

"Uncle…" He muttered suddenly. "I think I know which one they've taken." He stated. Walked fell quiet. He looked at his nephew, his face blank and concentrating worriedly.

"Right." He said, letting his nephew continue. Joe gave a nervous breath.

"When we were traveling across Whirl Ocean…" Joe explained, leaving small gaps in parts of his sentence. "We came across a large whirlpool, and under that whirlpool was a hidden cave, with a large waterfall in it." He paused.

"Whirl Island." Walker told him. Joe nodded.

"Silver was sucked down there first, that's how we found out about it." He paused again. "And Team Rocket were down there, too. Silver said that he saw them moving something out from the caves and into a boat, or something like that. He stated that it was big whatever it was." Joe gulped. "But the most worrying part is that he was convinced it was something called…"

"Lugia?" Walker finished for him. Joe looked at his uncle through the screen.

"You know that name?" Joe asked. Walker nodded. His face was now white and very, very grim.

"Yes." He told him. "Yes, I know that name all too well." He said. "And if Team Rocket have kidnapped him, and they're planning to do what I suspect they are then we, everyone in these two regions, are in very real and very serious danger." He took a step back. "I need to go… inform… some people immediately." He stated, looking terrifyingly stunned and worryingly afraid. He looked back at the screen. You just keep getting badges, and keep your eyes open. Team Rocket know you're a nuisance to them. They may try to get rid of you now that their plans are in motion."

"So what should I do about them?" Joe asked. Walker didn't know what to tell him. But he did his best to give his most appropriate advice.

"If you see them around, just try to steer away from them. If they attack you then defend yourself. But, for my sake as well as yours, don't throw yourself into fighting them, please." He smiled weakly. "I couldn't bare to see my only nephew get hurt." Joe smiled.

"Thank you, Uncle." He said, smiling a little as well. Walker looked around paranoid.

"I need to go." He stated. "Contact me again when you get to the next city." He told him. "So I know you're okay." He smiled and went to reach for the off button. Then he stopped, looking back at the screen. "Oh, and one last thing I forgot to mention." He added. Joe looked back at the screen.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Someone else contacted me recently." His uncle told him, using certain words to replace others, clearly keeping Joe in the dark a little longer. The boy raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" He asked. Walker shrugged.

"He's coming over to Johto today to see you actually." He told him. "You'll know him when you see him. At least I hope you will, unless you forgot already what your own father looks like." Joe's eye widened.

"No…!" He breathed. "No. He's not coming here, is he?" Walker nodded. Joe looked rather angry now. "Why did you send him here?" He demanded.

"I didn't." Walker told him. "He got in touch, said he wanted to talk to you, see how you were doing. I think he wants to help.

"But I don't want his help!" Joe snapped. "He's Ex Rocket! He tried to kill me on multiple occasions. Okay, he didn't know I was his son at the time, but still, that's not something you forget!"

"He's had a lot of time to think." Walker told him.

"I don't think a month is long enough time." Joe stated, snapping a little.

"Joe, just listen to me, please." Walker told him.

"Besides, it'll just put me in an embarrassing corner." Joe muttered. "I haven't even told Winter or Silver about…" He stopped himself.

"You haven't tell about him yet, have you?" Walker realised. "Okay, well maybe this is the time to do so. Either way, he's in Johto or he knows the area you may turn up in, so keep an eye out for him." Walker paused. "And, if you really don't want your friends to know about him…" Walker stopped suddenly. The glass sliding door to the pokémon centre opened up again and Winter walked in, a small smile on her face. She was carrying a plastic bag that was partially full in her hand. She began walking straight over to Joe. "If you don't want Winter to know then I'd suggest looking for him by yourself before he finds you first. He won't know that they don't know." Winter reached them finally.

"Hey Joe." She smiled brightly, speaking in a cheerfully upbeat voice. "I got us some food to keep us going on the way back to Ecruteak." Then she realised that Joe's uncle was watching them both on the PC screen.

"Hi, Winter." Walker said, giving a charming smile. Winter smiled back.

"Oh, hi Mr. Glende." She said cheerfully. "It's nice to see you again. How are you?" Walker shrugged.

"I'm good thanks." He smiled. "You've been taking care of my nephew then?" He asked. Winter blushed a little.

"I've been trying." She told him, going a little red. "But it's not so easy."

"Anyway, Joe I need to go now." Walker said quickly, reaching his hand back to switch the computer off.

"Uncle, wait." Joe said quickly. His uncle looked at him.

"I'm sorry about leaving you like this, Joe." His uncle told him. He gave a small smile "But this is you we're talking about." He grinned comradely. "You'll be fine." And with that the screen switched off.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Joe yelled. He shook the screen with anger, hopping to somehow possibly get the signal back. The screen remained black. He sighed with annoyance. Winter looked at him, concerned.

"Joe?" She asked. "What where you and your uncle talking about?" She asked. Joe turned around to his friend. He exhaled, putting on a face smile.

"Nothing." He lied to her face. Winter looked confused.

"Nothing?" She repeated, not sounding like she believed him.

"We were just talking about how Johto is and about all the badges I've got and how annoying Team Rocket are." He said, looking a little untruthful with his words. Winter gave him a concerned stare.

"Are you sure that's all?" She asked.

"Yes." Joe said, a little too quickly. Winter didn't seem to buy it, but she let it pass for now.

"Okay." She said. "Well, I think we should wait a little while before we head off. That would give us some time to eat our lunch and then we can get going. If Silver has calmed down by now." Joe smiled at her, hiding his narrowing nervousness.

"Sounds good to me." He told her, feigning happiness. "Actually I haven't heard him shouting for a while." These words were followed by a loud snapping jaw sound, then a painful scream. Joe and Winter laughed. That would be the sound of Silver's failed escape attempt.

* * *

Silver rubbed his hand with pain and regret. He really shouldn't have tried to sneak away from Croconaw. The scaly pest had grabbed his arm like a bare trap. He still had the marks. He was a little thankful that it hadn't given him any scars. The fool could have chomped his whole arm off. It had been a good decision for him to choose not to resist once he was caught. He calmed down a bit now that he'd been allowed space to himself, but his attitude still hadn't improved much. He was still sulking and looking rather annoyed when they began their journey back up route 38. The group was seeming a little held down. Winter and Ralph were walking (or flying in Ralph's case) along carefree and smiling. Joe on the other hand was looking really grave and slightly paranoid, and no one could figure out why. But they hadn't heard his conversation with his uncle. They didn't know what he did. He had considered telling them, but where would he begin? How could he tell either of them, both Winter and Silver equally? How would they react to the news that, not only had he known who his father was for over a month now, but that he was alive and he had been one of the Rocket Commanders they had dealt with back in Kanto? How would they react to that? What would they think of him? Ralph already knew. He had been there when Joe had found out. But if Winter found out…? Joe kept his mouth shut. If she found out then their friendship could well be ruined like thin clothing run across barb wire. Unfortunately his choice to not speak at all made Winter a little worried about him. And this lead her to feeling something was up with him. This then lead to her persisting with him to tell her what was wrong, which only lead to Joe denying anything. This went back around and became a rotating spiralling circle that would only get more persistent and more untruthful the longer it went on. Ralph wanted to intervene but couldn't. He wasn't a human, so anything he said wouldn't make any sense to his trainer. Silver was starting to get a little cranky again too, so this constant repetitiveness was getting to him. So thank Arceus for the fact that their silent and troubled journey was interrupted half way by a couple of recognisable faces.

"Frank!" Ruby snapped, clenching her hands. The gelatinous blob of transforming flesh stopped and turned to her.

"What?" He asked with a resigned snapping tone. The blue haired girl looked at him, but this time not giving an angry or hateful glare. This time it was a stare of concern.

"Careful where you're standing. You're gonna loose half your body standing there." She told him. Frank looked confused. Then he looked down. His flabby flesh was just hanging over the small jaws of a bear trap covered by leaves. He pulled his step backwards, moving away from the hidden trap.

"Oh." He muttered. He glanced back at Ruby, a little stunned she had reacted for him. "Thanks." He said, nearly smiling a little. Ruby nodded back. It had felt weird speaking kindly to Frank. It wasn't something she usually did. She certainly didn't expect to do it again. Ross knelt down by the trap and inspected it, being careful not to put any of his limbs near it.

"What's something like this doing lying around out here?" He wondered aloud. This isn't exactly the best place to illegally hunt pokémon and it's on the middle of the road, where any man could step on it." Ruby shrugged at him.

"I've no idea." She said. "But we ought to move it, so nobody else accidentally gets caught in it." She pointed at frank. "Frank move it off the road, will you." She instructed. Frank grumbled. Now she was treating him the normal way she did. He sighed and nodded, forming two small arms and picking the trap up by the bottom jaw. It hung open in his hands, gaping like the maws of hell preparing to snatch down and trap any unlucky passing victim. With a strong swing he threw the tool away, sending it flying into the long grass. He heard it snap shut half way through the air, the pressure triggering its lock. Leaving the disarmed tool in the tall reeds he turned back to his team members, his jelly arms shrinking away. "Good job." Ruby told him. "Now let's get out of here."

"Where are we even heading?" Ross asked, looking a little tired. Ruby glanced at him, her expression rather bothered.

"I told you three times now." She snapped lightly. "We're going to Olivine City."

"Why?" Ross asked. "What do we need that's down there?" Ruby sighed. She had thought to herself many times that she was the only smart member of this group. Comments like this were proof that if she wasn't around the two of them would have fallen in on their own idiocy and lack of intellect."

"It's quite simple." She stated simply. "Olivine has an ocean, and a lot of fishing docks. We want strong pokémon, and there are many water types that are strong pokémon. So, if we can fish some up, we can have even more strong pokémon. Did you follow all that?" Ross rubbed his neck.

"Yeah…" He said. "But Olivine isn't the only place with docks or water. Why not just fish somewhere else?" Ruby looked at him, wanting to slap his stupid face.

"Because…" She stated angrily, leaving a pause between 'because' and her next words. "We don't have any fishing rods, do we? But Olivine does."

"I don't even like fish." Ross complained.

"Not all water pokémon are fish." Frank told him.

"Shut up, Frank." Ross snapped.

"Oh, Sorry." Frank muttered sarcastically. Ruby was starting to get annoyed by the two of them now.

"Don't you two think you could just do one thing I say without complaining about it?" She demanded. Ross didn't really care at this point. They had been traveling all day and night with minimum rests, they'd been training pokémon that were impossible to train and he was beyond feeling fed up.

"All I want to do right now is sleep." He groaned at her. "Could I at least get a rest, even if it's for one seconds?" Ruby sighed. She knew that he wouldn't stop complaining if he didn't.

"Alright." She agreed, giving in to his persistent demands. "We can have a ten minute rest but no longer. After that we're moving back on again." Ross smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, Ruby." He collapsed onto his backside, lying flat on the grass beside the road, his legs out and exhaling relieved. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Don't think that I'm doing this twice." She muttered. Frank collapsed next to Ross, which was a surprisingly tough thing for a blob of pink to do. He lay flat like a ditto pancake on the grass, small blades poking into his skin but he did not care. Simultaneously they both gave out an exhausted but also relaxing sigh. Ruby rolled her eyes again. Slowly she sat down beside them, crossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her knees. "I suppose we do need it." She decided, muttering to herself. "Can't keep going on forever after all." She looked at the road. The smooth concrete that formed it bumped slightly with the hill terrain around it. The whole route seemed to be one long and slightly bumpy grassland. She closed her eyes and inhaled intoxicatingly. And then she heard footsteps coming closer from the distance. They were faint and far away, but still close enough to hear the crunching of the boots on the stone covered concrete path. She opened one eye and turned it right. Walking up the path that they had been heading down came three figures, and one human sized purple bat. She let out a loud and audibly annoyed groan. "Oh great! She complained. "It's them again!"

"Don't look now…" Winter stated suddenly as she and her companions hiked up the road. "But we've got company waiting up ahead." Joe turned his eyes upwards and looked ahead. He spotted two humans, one male, one female, with vividly coloured blue and green hair, sitting at the edge of the road. And besides them was a small pink blob of existence. He let out an annoyed groan too.

"Oh boy." He muttered. "More annoying people to bother us."

"Hmm?" Silver asked. He looked up from rubbing his hand, spotted Team Ace and groaned as well. "Oh no." He complained. "Not them!" Ralph groaned as well, joining the universal choir for the response to seeing Team Ace again.

"Maybe they won't be so bothersome today?" Winter hopped. Joe turned to her.

"Do you believe that even for a second?" He asked.

"No." Winter said, deflating a little. Joe hummed to himself as he turned back around. He sped up his walk.

"May as well get this over with." He muttered. "Hopefully they won't notice us." This hope was a futile effort. The chances of Team Ace not noticing three teenagers and a crobat passing were at least 426,901:1 against, and, unfortunately, improbability was not on their side. Ross, the green haired boy, stood up suddenly from where he was lying on the grass, stood at the edge of the road, cupped his hands together and shouted something rather loud but also faintly echoing at them.

"GO AWAY!" The words echoed across the route. The group found themselves halted by this surprising sudden command. Ross shouted a few more words. "WE DON'T WANT TO ARGUE WITH YOU TODAY!" He added. "WE'RE REALLY TIRED!" Joe, Winter, Ralph and Silver all looked at each other with confusion. They certainly hadn't expected to be shouted at today, but to be shouted at because the people shouting wanted to be left alone? That was odd in itself. And then there was the fact that Team Ace was shouting this at them. Team Ace didn't want to meddle with them? Was that something that could happen? This was unheard of in the whole history of humanity and pokemanity. Joe cupped his hands and shouted back.

"WE DON'T WANT TO BOTHER YOU EITHER!" He yelled. "WE'RE JUST GOING TO PASS BY!"

"GOOD!" Ross shouted back. Silver cupped his hands.

"GET OFF OUR LAWN, YOU SLOUCHERS!" He taunted. Even from the distance Joe could see Ross's face crinkle up with anger.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" He shouted.

"Silver…" Joe said, turning to his friend. "That's not helping." Silver gave him a smug smile.

"Well, it was worth a shot." He said.

"A shot at what?" Winter asked. "What were you even trying to do?"

"Get them to move on." Silver told her. "They're in the way, aren't they?"

"No, they aren't." Winter told him. "They weren't in the way at all. They were going to let us pass fine today. Now you've probably gone and ruined that."

"Oh." Silver muttered.

"I DARE YOU TO COME OVER HERE AND REPEAT THOSE WORDS!" Ross yelled at them, standing in the middle of the road now and shaking his fist at them like a grumpy old man at a bunch of meddling kids.

"Well done, Silver." Joe muttered, giving Silver a glare of hatred. Silver looked a little embarrassed.

"Sorry." He murmured apologetically.

"Ross, sit down!" Ruby said with grating annoyance. Ross looked at her, pure anger on his face.

"Ruby, they're slandering us!" He stated basically. "I can't let them get away with that.

"Just ignore them." She told him. "They're just trying to wind you up. I thought you were tired anyway." Ross held in a yawn.

"Screw being tired." He stated. "I can be tired any day. Right now I'm in the mood for a fight!" Ruby sighed.

"Fine." She stated. "But don't make the situation worse."

"Do I ever?" Ross asked.

"Yes." Frank stated, butting in. Ross looked at him.

"Thanks, Frank!" Ross said bitterly with a spoonful of sarcasm.

"You're welcome." Frank said back with just as much sarcasm. Ross stepped forwards onto the road, standing firm and stoic at its centre, while Ruby sat anxiously at the side of the road watching with Frank, who was again putting on his imaginary make shift pare of 3D glasses. Silver was rushing up to meet them. Ross rose his hands up into the air, waved them and yelled at the top of his voice…

"COME AT ME, GINGER GERM!"

"Silver, no!" Joe shouted. His words went unheard by the aggravated and volatile redhead teenage trainer. Winter placed her hand in front of Joe, stopping him from chasing after.

"Don't." She warned. "Let him be an idiot. He'll learn eventually." Joe looked his friend in the eyes.

"It's not him being stupid I'm worried about." He told her. "It's him slowing us down and forcing us to stop and wait that I'm worried about." As he said those words Silver's voice echoed across the field again.

"I CHALLENGE YOU, BONEHEAD!" Joe sighed as he sped up his pace a little.

"Of course he goes and does that!" He muttered, shaking his head and looking fit to spark with anger, like a tied down red and pink Catherine Wheel firework. Winter narrowed her eyes at the fainter growing trainer running away from them.

"Yet even I must admit these escapades of sudden volatility must stop!" She muttered, adding to the overall feeling of grumpiness. Ralph joined in, making a grumping sound and crossing his wings in mid floating position.

Silver meanwhile had no care for what his friends were doing behind him. All he was worried about this aggravating boy ahead of him. Call him ginger, would he? He'd soon be eating those words with a large spoonful of soggy dirt and an extra helping of self-pity. He ran at the male human member of Team Ace, reaching his left hand to his ball belt and unclipping a pokeball. He released it into the air and Noctowl appeared, its large eyes blinking slowly as its wings stretched out and it glided alongside its master.

"Take him down!" Silver yelled. Noctowl hooted, flapped its wings and dived towards the trainer ahead of it, wings folded in and round head tucked up so as to not take much recoil damage to the neck.

Ross unclipped his own pokeball now. "Go, Star!" He yelled, releasing the ball out and sending his ledian out to battle. The ladybug pokémon saw the predatory bird flying in to attack its trainer and he immediately took up defence. "Comet Punch!" Ross commanded. Star pulled two of it's for arms back, preparing the attack. Noctowl flew it and attacked it's pray. Star retaliated. Four round white puffy insect feet struck Noctowl in the chest and hit it aside as it came in to attack. At the same time Noctowl's head rammed into its chest, sending the ledian opponent spinning backwards, its legs flailing madly. Both pokémon landed bruised on the floor, still standing but a little hurt and weakened by their attacks.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Both trainers shouted at the same time. "How could you let it hit you? Get up!" Frank smirked a little at the random synchronisation of the two voices. To him this was what entertainment really was. No flicking through TV channels or radio stations to find something he might enjoy. He just waited for Ross to get into a fight, put on his 3D glasses and sat back and watched the fun roll out in front of him. The two pokémon pushed themselves up onto their various number of feet and prepared to fight again.

"Peck!" Silver called as he came running in to join the fight.

"Tackle!" Ross countered. Ledian rammed Noctowl in the chest as Noctowl pecked its tiny beak forwards into Ledian's side. Again both pokémon knocked the other down. Silver and Ross groaned at the same time.

"Damn it! Silver cursed.

"Good grief!" Ross snapped.

"This is already getting silly." Ruby muttered, watching bored stiff by the lack of action.

"He really is failing at this right now, isn't he?" Joe muttered, the three of them having finally reached the battle location. Winter nodded.

"I wasn't expecting him to jump back into training so quickly after earlier." She replied. Joe hummed. Suddenly Ralph let out a warning yap. His sharp loud screech alerted Joe immediately.

"Ralph, what is it?" He asked, spinning around on his heels and looking at his friend. Ralph turned to the right and pointed a wing into the field. Joe followed his wing tip and looked into the long yellow tall grass. Nothing. There was nothing there. Not a single movement or sound. Joe turned back to his friend. "Ralph, are you feeling okay?" He asked. Ralph glared at him, panic in his eyes and fire breathing through his teeth. With a strong grip Ralph grabbed Joe on the shoulders and spun him around to face the field fully, keeping him still as he did so. "Ralph, what…?" Joe protested. Ralph slapped him on the side of the head. "Ouch!" Joe complained. "What was that for?" Ralph glared at him, annoyed by his idiocy. He grabbed his head, turned it sharply back to the field and pointed out at the grass. There was still nothing. "Ralph, there's nothing there." Joe said. Ralph kept his head turned. Joe continued to look. "Ralph, there's still noth…" He barely finished the last word before suddenly something explosive happened. A titanic blast of furious electricity burst out from the grass, aimed straight at Joe himself. He had no time to react. The attack came so quickly that it was barely a blur. It was almost invisible to the human eye. But Ralph was fast enough to act. He shoved Joe aside, moving him out the way just in time as the bolt struck, hitting Ralph instead. The man sized crobat was sent spiralling backwards through the air, rotating like a thrown soggy purple dishcloth. He landed with a paralyzing thud onto the road, crinkled up and smoking, his eyes open wide with pain as he lay unmoving but still conscious. Joe landed on his back, wincing with the sudden pain of impact. And then he saw his companion. "Ralph!" he exclaimed, crawling quickly onto his knees and rushing over on all fours to his best friend. Ralph lay shivering in a ball, unable to move through the static damage.

"Is he okay?" Winter asked, kneeling down beside Joe in an attempt to help. Joe looked at the ground, fury growing in his eyes. He glanced back up at Winter. He saw her worried expression. He looked back at Silver and Team Ace. They had stopped their battle, looking over at him in shock. The two pokémon had paused like statues. Noctowl had its claws around Ledian's head and Ledian was trying to punch its stomach to make it let go. Their heads were turned to the grass, staring in amazement and fear. Joe looked back at Winter. She too was looking into the grass. Slowly Joe turned to face the field beside him from his kneeling position. Standing in the tall grass, their upper bodies just taller than the reeds that had previously hid them, were the three Rocket Commanders: Proton, Petrel and Ariana. Beside proton was the just visible sticky, gloopy, sludgy Muk, sparking static from its fingers, the true causer of the lightning attack. Ariana, who was standing at the front centre of the trio, smiled grimly as he saw her.

"There you are!" She stated evilly. "You annoying little brat. You and your 'pet' have bothered us too many times. Now it's time you learnt some respect." Proton began to crack his knuckles violently. Petrel grinned under his thin moustache. Joe stood up, glaring back at the three Rocket Commanders with pious hatred.

"You!" He stated, his voice resonating purest loathing. "Why are you here? What do you want?" The three commanders looked at each other and chuckled vilely.

"You don't know?" Proton asked. "You really can't figure it out?"

"How naïve!" Petrel commented. "Dear boy, you've meddled with us before. Why do you think we're here?" Ariana grimaced sinisterly.

"We're here to… 'remove' you." She stated, picking her words powerfully. "Once and for all."

"You mean kill me?" Joe asked, not changing his expression in the slightest.

Ariana nodded with an evil grin. You've been a thorn in our boss's side for too long now, and we're the tweezers of power that have come to pluck you out." Joe winced at the metaphor.

"Very nice." He commented snidely. "Did it take you all day to come up with that simple descriptive?"

"Joe, I don't think you should taunt them." Winter said to him quietly. Ariana gave a small smile to that comment.

"I'd listen to your girlfriend, kid." She warned, hissing with a lick of her snake tongue. "You already got our attention. You won't like us when we're angry."

"We're not…" Joe went to interrupt, noticing Winter's light blush at the commander's comment.

"Shut it!" Proton snapped. "Ariana's talking, so, while we let you live, you will listen!" Joe closed his mouth, his tongue rolling up with fidgeting anger. His palms began to clench. Ariana coughed slightly.

"Thank you, Proton." She said, sounding a little taken aback by his retaliating comment. Proton nodded at his higher up. She coughed again, refocusing on what she had been talking about. "As I was saying, we're here to stop you. Archer finds you annoying, and its time you were taken out of the way." Joe glanced back down at Ralph. He was still lying in a paralysed ball. Some of the static had faded away and he was able to move his eyes and breathe again, but he still couldn't move his wings or other body parts. His mouth was clenched shut. All he could do was look up at Joe and across at the Rocket commanders. Joe looked back up at the three figures, two in black, and one in white. His hands clenched and his teeth gritted.

"You hurt my pokémon." He stated, a raise of violence in his tone. "You hurt my friend!" A pokeball dropped from his belt and into his hand with barely a movement from his hand. "You come to me asking for a fight." He smiled sternly. "How could I dare refuse?"

* * *

"ATTACK!" Ariana roared, baring her snakelike teeth at the trainer as she threw her arm forwards, her sharp nail finger spearing the air in Joe's direction. A few seconds passed. Nothing happened. She turned back to her companion commanders. "What are you doing standing around?" She snapped. "Attack them!"

"Who?" Proton asked. Ariana looked stunned.

"What do you mean who?" She asked. "Did you two suddenly go blind? Attack the trainer!"

"What, all three of us?" Petrel asked. "At the same time?"

"Yes!" Ariana told them with an extending tone that shoved the words down the earhole of her recipient. Petrel and Proton looked at each other.

"Doesn't that seem a bit…" Petrel paused. "Much?" Ariana put her hands to her hips.

"What are you suggesting?" She asked.

"Well, I'm not trying to counter your commands, ma'am…" Proton told her quickly, sounding slightly cowardly and defensive with his comments. "But, to us, it seems that waisting all our effort on just him seems a little too extreme."

"You see." Petrel added, pushing his fellow commander's voice aside. "He's only a boy, and he's barely beaten us in the past. He's already battled us two and won, if only just. But he hasn't battled you yet." Ariana raised her eyebrows.

"Go on." She said cautiously, clearly interested by what he they were trying to get at. Proton continued.

"So, if you were to battle him, we could keep his friends distracted so you can finish him off. That way we wouldn't get swamped by all of them at the same time and we could still take out the kid with ease." Ariana grinned evilly.

"I like it." She said. "Good plan, you two." She pointed a finger to each off them. "Then we'll do this. Proton, you take out those two battling over there. Petrel, you deal with the ladies. I'll take down our interfering friend."

"Yes, Ma'am." Both commanders said conclusively. Ariana smiled and spun around to face the five trainers watching patiently.

"Uh we aren't in your way, are we?" Ruby asked, standing next to Frank, looking ready to run at any moment.

"It's just we don't want to get in your way." Ross added, stepping backwards himself.

"Yeah. Take flight and all." Frank muttered, getting ready to transform into any bird type and fly away, far away from here, even leave his friends behind just to escape the very real threat of danger. Joe, Winter and Silver looked disapprovingly at the trio.

"Gee, thanks for helping out guys." Silver muttered coldly. Ross gave him a returning frozen glare of ice. The three commanders tilted their heads as one.

"Oh, isn't that cute. They think they're going to leave." Proton muttered.

"Commander, stop them, now!" Ariana instructed sharply. Proton and Petrel suddenly snapped into action like toy soldiers being pushed across a battlefield by a child general.

"Get ready to fight." Joe stated, turning to Winter and looking at Silver at he did so. The redhead trainer nodded, turning to his Noctowl.

"Noctowl, we've got a real battle on our hands now!" He told it. Noctowl flapped its wing excitedly from its perch on Silver's shoulder and hooted fiercely. Winter and Joe reached for their pokeballs and released a pokémon each. Pippy and Staryu appeared on the road in front of them. The two black cladded and male commanders reached for their own pokeballs as they ran in to fight and sent out three koffing, a golbat, a Muk and a Weezing. Six verses 4. Not a nice number to be against.

"Attack!" Ariana roared. The commander's pokémon attacked, preparing their various attacks and either throwing them, charging them or, in some cases, breathing them. The first to reach them was Golbat, who came in slicing a wing attack through the air. Silver retaliated.

"Noctowl, Confusion!" He yelled. Noctowl fired a ring of psychic energy from its forehead. The attack flew at Golbat but it dodged aside, evading the attack and coming in, swinging its own. "Take down, quick!" Silver continued. Noctowl launched itself from where it was, flying body first at the opponent. The two pokémon collided, continuing the fight in a rotating ball of feathers and skin and fangs and beaks. Proton's other pokémon, Muk, went for Ledian. It threw a sludge bomb an in an instant Star was out of the battle, ending up unconscious and stuck to the grass floor. Ross was open mouthed. He barely had time to make a comment when Muk came charging at him, throwing a heavy sludgy fist. Ross cowered in his wake, expecting to be crushed, but when nothing happened he looked again. A machamp was standing in his way, its four muscular arms blocking the purple ooze fist that was attacking. Frank grinned.

"Nice try!" He taunted. "Where's you learn to fight, the state home for the ugly?" Muk scrunched up its face in anger. Ross stared at his teammate.

"Frank?" He asked. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked. Frank glanced back at him.

"Saving your skin!" He said quickly. "Now give me a hand. This pricks a mess to deal with!" He winked at his friend and turned back around, striking a flying sludge bomb out of the air with a karate chop. Ross looked down at Star, pulled back out his pokeball and withdrew him. He placed that pokeball onto his belt and sent out his next pokémon, Cutter the Scyther. Since he'd been with Ross and Team Ace Cutter seemed to have calmed down a bit more. He was at least doing as he was told, even if he did give Ross a few cold glares as he did so. Joe was initially surprised to see his old pokémon again, but then he remembered that they were Team Ace and he realised that it was probably inevitable. At least they were helping them fight Team Rocket now, even if it wasn't by choice.

"Cutter, use Slash!" Ross commanded. Cutter charged at Muk alongside Frank, both preparing to throw their strongest melee attacks at it.

"Tackle, Smokescreen!" Petrel commanded, sending all five of his koffing to attack the defenceless Ruby. She backed up as five floating balls of rotting purple noxious gas floated towards her.

"Hydro Pump!" A huge torrent of water flew in and struck two koffings aside before they could attack, knocking them to the floor for a few seconds. The remaining three koffings turned towards the attacker, as did Ruby. Winter stood facing them, her arm pulled back, Staryu at her side, water dripping down its red gem centre. She squinted her eyes at the pokémon. "Hey, puffballs!" She shouted. "Leave the girl alone!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Ruby shouted at her. "I've got this under control!" Winter ran over to Ruby and stood in front of her, Staryu placing itself in a defensive stance before its trainer.

"Yeah, I can see that." She said sarcastically. She smiled back at Ruby. "But I thought you could use a hand." Ruby looked surprised. Then she smiled back. Her hand reached for a pokeball and, in a flash, her girafarig, Garry, was on the battlefield, rearing up on its hind legs. Petrel smiled to himself.

"Teaming up won't save you." He told them. "After all, there's only two of you, but there's seven of us!" The five koffing circled up around Weezing, placing themselves before their master and preparing to attack when commanded. Ruby and Winter held their ground. They didn't bother with retorts. They just jumped straight into fighting back.

"Garry, use Psybeam!" Ruby commanded.

"Swift, Staryu!" Winter yelled. Girafarig's psychic attack struck the front Koffing, which flew in the way of the much bigger and stronger Weezing to defend it, knocking it unconscious immediately. The other koffings just bunched up tighter, preparing to throw smokescreens. These attacks were stopped however by Staryu's swift, which struck all four of the defending pokémon, making them flinch and causing them to swallow their own smokescreens. Blank ink smoke began to escape from their multiple rotting orifices.

While all of this was going on Joe and Ariana were having a long and dangerous stare down. The two of them glared at each other, preparing to either strike first or wait for the other to do so and react appropriately. Ralph still lay on the ground, his body mostly able to move now, but still not able to fly or even push himself up. He lay on the road limply, watching as his trainer did bloody battle. Ariana finally struck first.

"Arbok, Bite him!" She commanded. Arbok lunged, moving at blinding speed with a simple hissing slither of its body.

"Dodge!" Joe yelled. Pippy jumped aside, evading the snapping bite attack. "Now, thunderbolt!" Joe commanded. Pippy sparked for a second and fired a quick bolt of electricity into Arbok's side. The giant purple cobra hissed and glared at the tiny electric rat. It lunged again, this time nearly landing its attack. Pippy was fortunate enough to scurry back just in time and dodge it completely. Ariana was already getting mad.

"Crush that little rodent!" She roared, her posh accent cracking like a thin ceramic vase. Arbok swung its tail around. This time Pippy wasn't quick enough to avoid it. Arbok's tail flicked him upwards, sending the small pikachu spinning upwards.

"No!" Joe exclaimed. There was nothing could do to save him. Ralph was still grounded. He could only watch as Arbok reared up and prepared to snap him up in his jaws. Then Joe realised that, while he couldn't exactly save Pippy, he could stop him being swallowed whole if he acted fast enough. It would mean sending out another pokémon though, thus breaking the rules of battle. Luckily this was Team Rocket he was fighting. They always broke the rules. He reached for another pokeball and released it. "Go Quill!" He called. The quirky quilava appeared on the field, fire blazing from its back. "Now Quill, quickly strike Arbok and stop it before it catches Pippy." Quill nodded and curled up, rolling forwards in a trail of blazing flame.

"What?!" Ariana exclaimed. Arbok didn't even see the attack coming. It was already over by that time. Quill struck it in the side, sending the giant snake flying far across the field. Then Quill stopped where Arbok had been, uncurling and looking up at the falling Pikachu. Pippy was almost at the ground. He had been squeaking in fear all the way. Quill leaned up on his hind legs and held his arms out, catching the tiny mouse in his arms. Pippy went 'Eeek!', then suddenly realised that he was no longer falling. He turned his head. Quill was smiling at him, holding him in his arms like a baby that had fallen from heaven. Pippy smiled back, thankful that he hadn't become a static pancake on the floor. Ariana growled at the collective fighting against her. "That's against the rules!" She snapped.

"Sod the rules!" Joe snapped back. "Like you ever follow them." Ariana smiled at this.

"So you don't expect me to play the proper way?" She asked. She leaned back, her arms on her hips. "Alright." She stated. Her hands reached for her belt. "You want to play dirty? I can play dirty too!" She unclipped the remaining two pokeballs and released them. On the field beside Arbok, which had now gotten back onto its long body, appeared a vicious looking Vileplume and a cunningly smug Murkrow. All three of her pokémon roared and hissed and cawed simultaneous. Ariana smiled. "Let's see how you fare." Joe was one step ahead of her.

"Go, Leaf!" He called. Leaf appeared on the field now, flicking his head and giving a small but menacing enough roar. "You think I was just going to let you fight me Three vs Two? Like hell. I'm not letting any of you three escape today, no matter what you do to me or my friends." He clenched his fist angrily. "You are all going down, right here, right now!"

Ariana grinned evilly. "Three Verses Three." She muttered. Her sharp teeth turned the light orange with sinister devilishness. "This will be entertaining!" She threw her arms forwards. "SLAY THEM!" She roared. All three of her pokémon attacked, preparing various attacks. Arbok was slithering in to bite. Vileplume was charging a solarbeam. Murkrow was covering itself in darkness and flying through the air, aimed like a shadowy bullet. Joe had no choice but to react just as viciously.

"Pippy, Leaf, Quill, Don't hold back!" He called. His three attacking pokémon prepared to defend him, readying their attacks. Joe felt his bag moving. Casey's head popped out from the opening. He wanted to see the fun. Joe tucked him back inside quickly. The last thing he wanted was his baby pokémon getting hurt, or worse, killed. Ariana's pokémon were blood hungry. They didn't slow or stop for the thought of mercy. They came charging in with their attacks, ready to rip apart Joe's team without a second glance. But Joe's pokémon weren't weak trainer tools. They were tough characters and they cared for their trainer and each other. If one of them was in danger, they would all band up and help. Arbok attempted to bite Pippy again, only to find its teeth sinking into a substitute. The real Pippy had managed to scoot his way around and strike a slam attack into its back. As Arbok lay on the floor Pippy fired a thunderbolt in for good measure. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to take it down, as Arbok got back up, flicking Pippy of it as it did so. Leaf saw Vileplume's attack charging and formed a reflective shield around itself and the rest of its team. When the attack hit Leaf was hurt, but not badly. He shook the damage of like it was nothing and returned it with a razor leaf that cut the plant pokémon up into still attached ribbons. Quill was stuck facing Murkrow, an entirely new pokémon that Joe had never encountered before. It was surprisingly fast and also surprisingly strong. It landed its attack with ease, hitting Quill in the side and causing him to jump and role away. The quilava responded however with an accurately landed rollout. The murkrow certainly thought twice the second time it tried an attack. Quill was still rolling about across the field. He used this time to strike over Vileplume as well, giving Leaf more time to fight back. This kafuffle caused Arbok to lose its concentration, meaning its acid attack missed completely. As it looked at the sounds of it teammates being attacked Pippy got in an extra powerful and extra sharp thunderbolt onto its spine. The giant snake went down like a pile of loose rope, leaving the small mouse cheering itself on with pride.

Ariana growled. This battle wasn't going well. But all was not lost. She had a second plan. In the distance she could hear it arriving, its massive rotors turning the wing. The sound quickly grew louder. The sound of air being pushed over spinning air blades. Everyone stopped and looked to the sky. There, through the clouds, appeared a large black blimp. The huge gas filled balloon carrier came floating downwards towards the ground and hovered several hundred feet above the grass. The carrier under it was physically attacked to the balloon itself, creating a large and weirdly shaped underbelly. The balloon itself was small, but the carrier under it was massive. This hub was like a floating miniature frontline base. The gigantic transporting barracks arrived on the scene, looking over it like an unkindly god. The five trainers, and their pokémon, including Frank, looked up at it in stunned and horrified amazement. The three commanders grinned at each other.

"That would be backup!" Proton yelled, grinning stupidly. Ariana looked down at Joe, her face cunningly cruel.

"Time's up, trainer!" She stated nastily. "Now your crobat friend is going bye-bye!" Joe's eyes widened. He looked to Ralph. His companion had finally managed to get back up to his feet. He was already in the air again, though clearly unable to start battling yet. Ariana was staring at him creepily, liking her snakeskin lips. Joe looked back up at the blimp. And he noticed something. A weird silver line was flying down towards them. And on the end of it was something thin, wide and shaped like a net. Joe reacted in an instant.

"Ralph, look out!" He yelled. Ralph looked up, but it was too late to react. The hooked net flew towards him, open wide to swallow him whole. Joe jumped in his way, Grabbing Ralph in his arms and trying to push him away. But, unfortunately, his attempt to save him failed. The net landed and snagged them both up inside it. "Wha!" Joe exclaimed in surprise. The net wrapped around the two of them, tying them up in a ball of rope and string.

"Joe!" Winter exclaimed. She rushed over to net and tugged at it, trying to break them out, but nothing she could do would free them. Quill even tried to burn it, but it wouldn't burn. Nothing any of Joe's pokémon or friends could do did anything to help free them. But that didn't stop them. Winter and Silver tried to lift it up, but the combined weight of Ralph, Joe and the heavy metal and rope net was too much for them. Leaf, Pippy and Quill tried to cut it and break it off, but it was too tight too tough to break away.

"Help them!" Winter pleaded, glancing back at Team Ace who were frozen to the spot. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know what they could do. How could they help? All they did was get in the way. Finally Ruby managed to speak.

"Frank." She stated, looking surprisingly concerned for her. "Help get them out!" She called. Frank rushed over, still in machamp form, and went to help free Joe and Ralph from their prison.

"Pull them up." Ariana said, speaking to a radio she was carrying. Someone on the other end confirmed the order. The metal rope attached to the net suddenly tightened up, causing the net to yank up a few inches. And then suddenly it was shooting upwards, bringing the net, Joe and Ralph with it.

"No!" Winter cried. She was forced to let go, as was Silver. Joe's pokémon were knocked aside, unable to keep their grip. All of them stared in horror as the net was lifted back up at lightning speed. Only one of them didn't let it go. Frank followed after it, changing quickly into the form of a fearow and speeding after the net like a maddened feathery hornet. He wasn't fast enough to catch it, but he was fast enough to closely follow it. Up and up the rope and net went, dragging the wailing trainer and screeching crobat up with it. Still Frank followed, fighting turbulence and the force of gravity just to have a futile attempt at saving them. The maw of the blimp base opened up, and Joe and Ralph were pulled inside, swallowed whole by the gaseous beast. Frank flew in after them.


	23. Chapter 23: Glende's Wrath

The net slammed upwards, hung in mid-air above the hanging open cargo door and waited their patiently. Frank sped up, nearly through the doors. With one final burst of speed he shot through the doors just as the slammed shut suddenly with a strong metallic bang. The net dropped, causing a heavy thud that made Joe and Ralph exclaim. It remained rested on the now flat closed cargo door until someone came along to remove it.

Joe opened his eyes again. The force of the air on him as he was yanked up had been so blinding he had no choice but to keep them closed. Now they had stopped, and he looked around to see exactly where they were. The room they had been taken up to was large and dark, with metal curved walls that seemed to vibrate ever-so-slightly. There was no light anywhere, yet the room seemed to have some level of natural light. It certainly wasn't pitch black. A small amount of light was escaping through the gap in the cargo door. Joe wriggled it the tight net, trying to move his hands and get free enough to break out. He managed to brink his right arm in front of him, hoping it would be of some use. But he quickly realised it wasn't. The net was too strong. He couldn't pull it apart, he couldn't bite it apart. He certainly knew wishing it away wouldn't help. Ralph stirred next to him. Joe looked back. The man-sized crobat was crushed up under his arm, his wings sprawled out and tangled up in the net. He was struggling to free them currently, but wasn't get anywhere with it. It didn't stop him though.

"Ralph, are you okay?" Joe asked, looking concerned and sounding just and terrified as he was. Ralph grunted back at him in a pleading way, clearly asking for someone, anyone, to help free him from this accursed net. "Don't do that." Joe said, watching his friend struggle. "You'll only make it worse." Ralph ignored him. He proceeded to try chewing on the rope with his teeth. Joe sighed. What kind of a mess where they in now? He heard something wheezing and coughing behind him. He struggled to roll over and look at it. A large spearow bird was lying out flat on the steel floor, gasping desperately for air, its wings out wide on the steel plating and its head resting outstretched from its neck. Frank grunted painfully, his lungs burning with the effort he had made to keep up with them. At least he had succeeded in time, but now he was out of energy and air. Joe looked a little confused. And then the spearow de-evolved… into an amorphous pink blob.

"Aye." Frank muttered, still breathing heavily. "I am not flying like that every again." Joe looked taken aback.

"Frank?" He asked. The ditto looked over at him.

"Heya, kid." He muttered, waving a blobby hand. "How're ya doing?" Joe and Ralph looked at each other from their uncomfortable prison.

"What are you doing here?" Joe asked, thoroughly lost. Frank gave him an impatiently tired look.

"I followed you in here." He stated simply. "Though it wasn't easy, mind you. I'm not used to flying, let alone so high or so fast. Think yourself lucky I got in here quick enough to help."

"Well then don't just sit there!" Joe stated. "Get us out of here!"

"I'm going to, I'm going to." Frank said, huffing a little. "Just give me a minute. I need a rest. You try flying this high up just to rescue you." Joe grabbed the rope in front of his face and shook it angrily.

"We don't have time!" He snapped. "Anyone could come in for us at any second. We need to get out of here now and find a way back down to the others." Frank gave him a bothered look.

"I said give me a minute." He stated. "I'm tired."

"Ruby and Ross are still down there." Joe told him. "The commanders are probably not relenting in their attacks anymore. They could be in real danger. Do you really want to give time for that situation to get worse?" Frank sighed.

"Okay." He muttered. "Twisting my arms, are we. Very smart of you."

"You don't have arms." Joe reminded him.

"You know what I mean!" Frank snapped, sliding over slowly to help free the trapped boy and bat. "Very clever, you threatening me like this. You're lucky I'm a nice ditto at heart."

"Just hurry up and get us out of here." Joe told him impatiently.

"Alright, alright." Frank responded grumpily. "I was going to help you anyway. Why do you think I followed you up here?" He asked. Joe did his best to shrug. In his current position it wasn't as easy as it seemed.

"Maybe you'd just got confused again." Joe suggested. Frank gave him a coldly sarcastic look.

"I'll see what I can do." He told the trainer. He began transforming again, this time turning into an arcanine and blasting the net with a massive flamethrower. Fortunately the fire didn't hit Joe or Ralph. Unfortunately it also failed to damage the net even slightly. Frank looked disappointed. "Oh." He said, sighing disappointedly. "Well that didn't work. Must be some new kind of fireproof rope."

"Maybe it needs to be broken off?" Joe suggested. Frank tried that. He changed into his most favourite pokémon form, machamp, and grabbed the net with all four of his arms. He was expecting, with the new strength he had as this pokémon, to be able to rip the ropes and metal connectors of with ease. But what he found was that the roped didn't even stretch slightly. Not one strand of rope snapped or broke even slightly. The metal connecting each piece of rope was just as tough. He tried punching it, smashing it in his four hands, stamping on it and even headbutting it, but nothing would work. The net just would not break. Frank sat down, causing a heavy thud as he failed to bend his knees and hit the floor ass first.

"It's no good." He muttered tiredly and pathetically. "I just can't do it. This damn thing won't break." Joe looked deflated.

"What now?" He asked himself aloud. "What do we do if we can't get out ourselves? Will someone come along and let us go? Will one of the team rocket grunts come in to find us? Or will they just leave us here until we get back to their base?"

"I wouldn't know, kid." Frank muttered. "But it looks like we're stuck up here." He transformed weakly back into ditto, sitting flat on the floor, looking down at the steel under him and feeling disappointed in himself.

"Cro." Ralph murmured, letting out a solemn cry of sadness and sorrow.

"Winter's still down there." Joe muttered quietly, thinking to himself. Ralph looked at him. "And Silver…" Joe continued. "And Team Ace. They're all still in danger. The commanders are still with them, and they're probably throwing their all at them right now. Meanwhile I'm stuck up here in a frigging net, unable to do anything to help them." He grabbed the ropes again and shook them hardly. "I'm so freaking useless!" He snapped quietly to himself. Just then he heard a quiet but audible and sweat 'Togi?' come from inside his bag. He had forgotten for a second that Casey was still there with them. Now he was feeling worse. He'd brought the baby with him into danger. Casey pushed his way out of the bag and stumbled across Joe's back, crawling his way across the two much bigger beings that were trapped in the net. "Casey, where are you going?" Joe asked, watching the small togepi waddle over him. Ralph also watched, surprised by what it was doing. Casey had said 'key'. What did that mean? What key? Casey reached the net end and pointed his tiny arm through the small holes. He wasn't small enough to squeeze through, but his arm was.

He pointed it through the netting and said very calmly "Togi-Pi!" Ralph looked at the tiny pokémon child. He was saying 'Key over there.' What did that mean? Ralph looked in the direction the small togepi was pointing at.

"What's wrong, Casey?" Joe asked. "Did you find something?" Ralph's wing suddenly tapped his shoulder. Joe looked up. Ralph didn't say anything to him. He simply pointed in the same direction Casey was pointing. Joe followed and gasped in relief. On the other side of the room was a computer terminal. There was only one logical reason for it being there. "That must be the controls for the net and cargo door." Joe realised. He turned. "Casey, you're a genius." Casey smiled at his father, happy that he was able to help out. "Frank!" Joe called. Frank looked up.

"What?" He asked.

"There's a computer terminal over there!" He said, pointing to the far end of the room. "You might be able to release us from the net over there." Frank looked to where Joe was pointing. Then he turned back, a small smile on his face. A smile of mild hope.

"I guess it's worth a shot." He agreed. He slowly got up and slid over to the computer terminal, taking his time to get there.

"Hurry up." Joe snapped.

"Okay, okay." Frank snapped back. He sped up his sliding. It took him a while to get there, but eventually he slid his way across the room and up to the large screens, displaying all kinds of controls and data on them. "I think this is the right thing." Frank shouted across to them. Joe smiled.

"Good." He called back. "Now let us free." Frank stood by the computers and looked up at them.

"Ah." He said suddenly.

"What?" Joe asked him. Frank looked back over at him.

"This thing needs a humans hands to work." He explained.

"You can transform into one." Joe reminded him.

"Oh yeah." Frank remembered. "Okay, just give me a second." He quickly transformed into his recognisable red haired human figure and stood at the computers expectantly. "Now I should be able to open it." He explained. "There doesn't seem to be a lock on it. Give me a few seconds to figure it out." A few seconds passed, then Frank spoke again. "Ah." He announced excitedly. "I think I might have found it." He pressed a button. Suddenly the cargo door began opening up again, leaving the net hanging over its open entrance.

"NO!" Joe exclaimed loudly, staring down into the sky. "CLOSE IT AGAIN!" Frank quickly switched the choice he made back, and the cargo door slammed shut again. Joe, Ralph and Casey all verbally released a simultaneous sigh of relief.

"Sorry." Frank muttered. "I'll try another one."

Suddenly there was a speaking sound of moving metal. All heads turned to the right. A door was opening up on the far wall. A door that they had not noticed was there. Light came through it first, and then an unsuspecting Team Rocket grunt guard followed after it, holding a makeshift rifle. His weapon looked flimsy and tacky, but it was probably still usable. It would be a bad idea to tempt him to fire it.

Joe looked back over to Frank and whispered desperately "Hurry up!" Frank nodded back. He began running his fingers over the keyboard, typing commands. The guard walked into the room, seeing the net first. Fortunately for Joe and Casey they were hidden under the large bulky form of Ralph, so the guard just assumed that he had only caught what he was aiming for. Then he looked to the terminal, and he saw Frank.

"Oy!" He shouted. Frank looked up, eyes wide.

"Uh…" He muttered loudly, unable to say anything wise in this situation.

"What do you think you're doing?" The grunt asked sharply. Frank lifted his hands up as the gun aimed at his torso.

"N-nothing!" Frank said quickly, stuttering slightly. The grunt looked rather confused to see another human in the cargo deck. There were only a few Team Rocket members on this ship, he knew them all by name, and this boy was not one of them.

"How'd you get up here?" He asked curiously, his gun still aimed at Frank's chest. Frank didn't answer him. His mouth had clamped shut against his will. He found himself unable to talk. The grunt didn't seem to like this choice. "Come on, start talking!" He instructed. Frank kept his mouth shut. "What are you, mute?" The grunt asked. "I said start talking." He aimed down the sight of his gun, preparing to fire if necessary. Then frank did probably the stupidest, yet bravest, thing he had ever done. He moved. His hand shot for the computer. The grunt fired his gun as a reflex reaction.

"Frank!" Joe exclaimed. The bullet hit Frank in the chest, knocking him backwards with immense force. But as he fell his finger snagged the command key. And then the net fell to pieces. The electronics running through it had failed, and the metal locks holding it together broke open. They were now free. The grunt turned to the net, surprised to hear someone else shout from that direction. "What the…?" He exclaimed. Then Ralph came flying out at him. The giant crobat shot forward like a fiery torpedo, striking the Grunt in the head and knocking him back into the far wall. His gun scattered across the room, falling useless near the door. The grunt slumped down, falling unconscious as the tough steel struck the back of his head. He went out like a light, falling down into a limp pile. Ralph stepped back, looking furious. He calmed down a bit when he turned back around and saw Frank was getting back up, looking stunned at himself. The ditto-turned-human looked down at the hole in his fake clothing. The small bullet entrance was not bleeding. It was as if someone had stuck a pencil through a piece of paper. There was no actual damage done at all. The bullet slowly pushed itself back out as Frank's muscly fat realigned itself. He looked up and chuckled.

"What do ya know?" He laughed, surprised he was still alive. "Guess I'm bullet proof."

"Think yourself lucky." Joe told him, looking rather surprised as he got out from under the net. "Most people aren't."

"Yeah…" Frank agreed. "But I'm not a person, remember. Joe chuckled.

"No, I suppose you aren't." He agreed. They re-joined at the centre of the room, Joe carrying Casey in his arms to keep him present and safe.

"Now what?" Frank asked.

"Now we find a way of this ship." Joe told him. "I don't think we can leave the same way we entered, so we may need to land the ship ourselves."

"Land a blimp?" Frank asked. "You do know how tough that's supposed to be, right?"

"Alright then…" Joe said in argument to Frank. "We crash it." Frank looked terrified at that suggestion.

"On second thoughts flying it sounds good to me." He said, smiling falsely. Joe smiled at him.

"Good." He looked around. "The only problem now is finding our way to whoever's flying this thing."

"Well they're probably through that doorway." Frank told him simply. Joe looked at the open door.

"Good point." He said. He hitched up his bag. "Alright guys. We should be very careful in case there's any more rocket grunts up ahead." Joe pointed to something near the door with his elbow. "Frank, grab that grunts gun."

"You what?" Frank asked.

"You heard me." Joe told him. "Get his gun."

"You want me to start shooting people?" Frank asked.

"No." Joe told him. "Hopefully not at least. We'll just use it as a threat. If worst comes to worst only shoot them in the legs. We don't want to lower ourselves to their level." Frank looked a little flustered by all this information.

"O-okay." He muttered. He picked up the gun, holding it clumsily in his hands. Fortunately he was still in human form, so he holding the gun could still be perceived as an actual threat, rather than something silly.

"Alright." Joe said, turning to Ralph and giving him a confident nod. Ralph nodded back. "Let's get going."

He stepped through the doorway and into a short metal brightly lit corridor. The light was so harsh on their eyes that they were all forced to shield them for a few seconds. When they were able to see again they realised there was another couple of doors at the far end. One was leading upwards, towards the front of the ship, and the other was leading backwards, into a room beside the cargo bay. Joe knew that he probably didn't want to go that way. He walked up to the front facing door and knocked on it twice. On the other side they heard a voice say 'Coming.' A few seconds later a tired looking grunt opened the door up and stepped out to receive Frank's new toy to the face. The grunt hit the floor with a gentle thunk. Joe looked at the fake trainer.

"You didn't need to hit him!" He exclaimed. Frank looked apologetic.

"What was I supposed to do?" He asked. "I panicked!" Joe sighed, rolling the grunt over and checking his pulse. He was still alive at least. Thankfully they hadn't become murderers.

"Just, you know, be more careful." Joe said, pushing Frank's gun down so it was pointing at the floor and not him. Then he stepped through the doorway, being careful to not catch his feet on the pointing up entrance piece. Frank looked at Ralph with a rather bothered expression.

"Rather demanding, your trainer is, isn't he." He muttered, chuckling a little. Ralph just looked at Frank coldly and disapprovingly. Frank coughed. "Moving on." He muttered, following after Joe, his gun safely disarmed in his hands.

The group stepped into a large room full of technical pieces and thingamajigs that none of them knew what they did. At the centre of them sat alone grunt on a wooden swivel chair. He hadn't seemed to notice them yet, and he looked unarmed. He was not in for any luck today.

"Who is it, Garth?" The grunt asked. "Is that Carlson coming back in to make demands?" He turned around and saw the trainer and three pokémon, one of who was holding a gun to him. "Oh." He muttered. "I see." Joe stepped up to him, still holding Casey in his arms.

"Take us down!" He instructed. The grunt looked pleadingly at him.

"I can't." He said simply. "My boss will kill me."

"So will I" Frank said, trying to seem threatening by speaking with a cruel tone and pointing the gun towards the hapless grunt. He sighed, knowing he had no way of winning.

"Alright." He said. "I'll take you down again." Joe smiled. He turned back to Frank and Ralph.

"Hold on, boys." He stated. "We're coming back down to earth."

* * *

The air roared and shattered at the Rocket blimp's engines churned it up. Slowly the titanic balloon carrier dropped out of the sky, levitating slowly downwards towards the field. The unfortunates standing bellow turned from their battles and looked up to see it in all its black and steel splendour. The rocket commanders stared up in confusion. The ship was not supposed to be landing. That wasn't part of the plan. It was supposed to wait until they'd finished the troublesome trainers off, that was what Ariana had instructed. The flaming scalped woman growled to herself. She was going to have a few words with the pilot when she got the chance. She turned back to her folly, the young ginger teenage girl who had challenged her after their primary target had been taken up, along with his crobat friend and an additional, a ditto by the look of how it transformed.

Winter stood before Ariana, daring to challenge her. She was tired, no, scratch that, she was exhausted. Half her team was down already. Even Staryu hadn't been strong enough for her Vileplume. But she wasn't giving up. Ross and Ruby were facing Proton, Silver was dealing with Petrel, and so she had to keep Ariana occupied. She didn't know if she could get Joe and Ralph back. She didn't even know if she'd see him again. Be she knew her friend. She knew he would find some way out. She withdrew her third defeated pokémon, Tailless the slowpoke, from the battle. It had put up a good effort, but Vileplume had proved to be too strong, even for her psychic attacks. Now winter was down to three remaining pokémon. She only had Zephyr, Eevee and Chansey left. Zephyr was already tired after dealing with Arbok earlier and Chansey was a pacifist, so she tried not to take part in battles. Staryu and River had been defeated earlier, and Stream was still in the PC, where Winter couldn't use him. The only real choice left was Eevee now. She was a bit concerned in using him. He rarely came out for any battles. Hopefully he could at least hold out for a while. She reached for a pokeball and released it.

"Go, Eevee!" She called. The pokeball rolled through the air and opened up, releasing the still young and rather nervous looking evolution pokémon onto the field. It stumbled a little on the grass, seeming intimidated by Ariana herself, rather than her pokémon. The fiery mistress of Team Rocket looked sharply back down at confronting girl and her pet pokémon, a cruel stare in her shrill eyes. She had been looking up at the blimp, but now her concentration was back in Winter. It made the young girl feel a bit unnerved. This woman clearly meant business, but in a more snake like, violent way then the other commanders did. This woman was a cross between a black widow spider and a cobra snake. She would rear up and extend her terrifying frill to ward of an enemy. Then, when that didn't work, she'd spit poison. Then, to truly finish it off, she'd jump upon her opponent like a shadow-walking ninja and pin them down, sucking the life from them with her relentless battle tactics. After that was done she'd tie them up and leave them out to dry, coming back later to finish them off for good. She was a new kind of monster, the kind that would never have ever been considered of the male gender. It was too smart, to cunning, too subtle to be that of a man. Yet it was not woman either. It was its own identity. Ariana adjusted her costume a little and tapped her heeled foot.

"You think that if you persist I'll eventually fall to you?" She asked. "How childish a view. You never stood a chance against us! You never stood a chance against me!" Ariana smiled a sickly sinister smile. Winter returned it with a determined glance. She looked down to her Eevee, who was starting to shake.

"Don't lose confidence." She told him. "Stay calm and stay alert and we can still take her down." She reminded him. Ariana waited not a second more to let her talk. She threw her arms out.

"Solar beam!" This must have been the twentieth time that attack had been used in this battle alone. It was getting old already. Vileplume tilted its flowery head down and formed light into the head.

"Rush around its side and get behind it." Winter instructed. Eevee waited for a few seconds, nerve causing it to falter. Then he ran, scurrying across the field and digging up mud behind him. He made an arc across the grass, running in a long half oval towards Vileplume. Winter had hoped this would make Vileplume's attack miss. But the flower pokémon had simply rotated with the small brown furred pokémon, keeping its solarbeam aimed at it. The light was getting denser. Eevee was about half way now. It didn't stop running. Fear and adrenalin fuelled it along, waiting for the inevitable attack to strike it down. When Vileplume finally fired Eevee was barely three fourths of the way towards it. The impossible heat it made ripped the earth up, burning the grass and melting the mud with bright green solar light. It hit just behind Eevee, singeing its tail fur very slightly. The small furry fox-like pokémon glanced back, saw the beam right behind it, saw the beam right after it, and sped up, sweating like a sauna trapped dog, desperate to get away now. Eevee was fast for its size, but so was the beam. Slowly it got closer and closer. Eevee kept running. It was nearly at Vileplume now. It believed it had a chance. And so he made the worst choice he could have. He changed course, running towards Vileplume in an attempt to pull off a simple tackle attack. But it had forgotten that it was Vileplume who was firing the beam. Ariana's pokémon turned on its feet, refocused the beam and fired it again right into Eevee's face. This time it had no time to dodge it. The bright burning green light struck it in the face, blasting it backwards and hiding it away within the light. Ariana clenched her fist.

"Enough!" She commanded. Vileplume cancelled its solarbeam attack. The light faded and revealed a burned, battered, defeated eevee where the beam had struck. It lay on its side, unable to stand the attack. Winter sighed. That could have gone so much better. She knew that Eevee probably wasn't going to do much damage, but she had hoped he could have at least lasted a little longer. She didn't blame him though. Ariana was ruthless. She didn't care in the slightest what her pokémon did or how badly her opponent ended up. She was a woman with no morals, like all members of Team Rocket. Ariana smiled, clapping her hands together with dry sarcasm. "An excellent performance again." She said cruelly. "Really, what were you expecting, sending out such a weak pokémon to fight? Did you think love and care would get you through it?" She said the words in such a taunting way. "News flash, sweetheart. Life's not like that. Love doesn't win pokémon battle. Strength does. Ruthlessness does. You can't give your enemy the chance to fight back. You need to have every advantage you can get. And you and your friends seem to think you are stronger because you 'care about your pokémon.'" She laughed. "Pathetic childish dreams." Winter glared at her. This woman was beginning to really piss her off. She pulled back out Eevee's pokeball.

"Eevee, come back." She commanded. Eevee disappeared in a flash of red beam back into the ball, and it closed behind him. Winter placed it back onto her belt, and stood there for a while. Ariana tilted her head.

"What's wrong?" She taunted. "All out of pokémon, are we?" Winter continued to glare at her. "Oh boo hoo!" She laughed in a cruelly mocking way. "Are you gonna cry now, little baby?" Winter continued to glare at her. Her fingers clenched. Ariana withdrew Vileplume from the field. She then proceeded to toll up her fists. "Guess you're out of the picture now." She muttered, sliding her right sleeve up to her elbow, revealing thin white arms underneath. "Might as well make sure you don't come back for more later." She took a step forward. Then there was a loud thump onto the grass behind her. Slowly she turned around. The blimp had finally landed, parking in the field behind them. The other commanders had stopped their battles to turn and look. The hatch door was opening up now. It fell outwards slowly with a hydraulic tinkering of gas and metal. And in the entrance of the massive blimp stood a brown haired trainer wearing a black and blue jumped with a black open cap. His sky blue eyes stared sharply across the field, aiming directly at one person in particular. Ariana. Joe stepped out of the blimp, walking slowly down the steel steps that had folded out, followed by Ralph and Frank. Casey was still in his arms. Ariana's eye widened.

"You?!" She exclaimed. "How?" Joe stopped. Slowly he passed Casey to Frank, who was still in human shape, and left him to take care of him. Then Joe alone continued to walk forwards. His expression was cold and hate filled.

"ROCKET!" He yelled at the top of his voice. "YOU COWARDS!" He clenched his fists. He pointed a balled hand at Ariana. "FIGHT ME, GOD DAMN IT! FREAKING FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW!" Winter looked on in horror at her friend. What was he doing? He wanted to fight Ariana hand to hand. He was going to get pulverised. Ariana seemed to be aware of this. She turned around properly and faced him, standing up in defence.

"TRAINER!" She shouted back. She readied up into a fighting stance. "COME AT ME!" She taunted.

Joe charged. His movements were graceless. He charged across the grass field, kicking up much with his heels, like a New Zealand rugby player that had been injected with adrenaline and rage. For someone who was barely fourteen, who had barely even touched puberty, he was doing a pretty good job at looking intimidating, especially considering he was able to keep his charge up over almost a whole field. But sadly it didn't make Arian feel the slightest shake of fear. She simply smiled to herself, amused by his attempt at seeming tough. Joe didn't care. He kept up his charge, fury and hate fuelling him on as he sped across the pitch.

"Joe, don't!" Winter called, seeing the fatal mistake in his actions. As Joe ran at the commander he was vulnerable. He wasn't paying true attention to what she was doing. So he failed to see her place her arm behind her back and stand at a sideways position, preparing for him to attack. Joe didn't care. He was too angry to think. He wanted her gone. He wanted Ariana defeated. He wanted Team Rocket obliterated. They had been around for far too long. It was time to end them once and for all. He reached his target and charged in, pulling his right arm back and preparing to slam his fist into the redheaded woman's face. But as he swung his fist in he realised something was up. Ariana was smiling, with a knowing, cunning, wicked smile. It was too late for him to stop his actions. His punch threw forwards. And Ariana dodged it. She flexed backwards, barely a sign of effort of further emotion on her face. Her body leaned backwards swiftly and agilely, avoiding Joe's attack completely. Joe fell forwards stunned, his arm striking through open air. Ariana cackled in his ear. Time slowed for her. She raised her right leg up and brought her bare heel sharply down on the back of Joe's right ankle. There was a painful snapping crunching sound. Joe yelled and fell forwards, losing his balance and falling onto his arms on the muddy grass ground. He gasped in pain. His leg was stinging, but it wasn't broken. He could still move it. Hopefully he could still stand on it. He rolled over and glared at Ariana. The rocket commander looked down on him, smiling evilly, a hideous laugh hanging between her grinning teeth. Joe raised himself to his feet and lunged again, this time moving too fast for Ariana to dodge him. But again he was stopped. The arm that had been behind her back shot forwards suddenly, grabbing Joe's fist and stopping it inches away from her face. Joe looked stunned at it. His had was so close, yet so useless. Ariana's smile grew wider and more evil.

"Pathetic!" She laughed. "So pathetic! You truly believe you can hurt me?" Joe growled at her. Ariana's grin shrunk under her tight lips. "Guess what?" She stated. "You're wrong!" Her hand twisted, turning Joe's wrist sharply. The young trainer suddenly let out a loud exclamation of pain. He dropped his defence, his legs loosening from their attacking stance and his other arm reaching up to free his twisted one. Ariana attacked again. Her right knee connected with Joe's gut, winding him and making him flinch forwards, leaving his head vulnerable now. The commander let go of his arm, leaving the trainer to grab his stomach in pain. And when Joe looked back up again Ariana's fist was aimed at his face. The attack connected, and Joe fell onto his back, his hands on his face. He lay on the mud, the heat of the sun blasting his skin, quiet sobs of pain escaping through his palms.

"Cro!" Ralph cried. He tried to fly over to his friend, but his skin began to spark again. He dropped to the ground, his wing skin crumpling up under the pressure of the air. He landed on his own face, striking the floor with a light thud. He looked up again. Joe was so far from him. So far, leaving him so helpless.

Ariana walked up beside him and looked down in hateful pity. "So this is the great troublesome teen, is it?" She asked sarcastically. Joe coughed painfully. Every fibre of his body ached. The punch to his face had knocked all feeling and sense from him. He was barely aware he existed anymore. Ariana flicked her left foot back lightly and kicked Joe in the side. The trainer winced in pain, coiling up slightly. In the distance Ralph was yelling in fear. He was watching his friend getting beaten, but there was nothing could do. He had lost his strength again as the static kicked back in. He was unable to get up. He could crawl, but even then he couldn't get far. All he could do was watch as Ariana kicked the crap out of his closest friend. Ariana struck again, kicking Joe harder, then harder, then harder. The trainer exclaimed each time, his cries sounding more pleading and more painful each time.

"Stop it!" Winter cried. "Leave him alone." She tried to attack Ariana herself, but when she did Ariana simply shoved her aside, knocking the young girl over onto her back.

"No…!" Joe gasped, trying to fight back. "Leave… her… alone!" Ariana looked back at him. A small, slightly pitiful but still very malicious smile grew again on her face.

"Oh. I see." She muttered, her tone cheerfully cruel. "How cute. A young couple." She glanced back at Winter who was sitting up again, looking up at Ariana with a mixture of hatred and fear on her face. Ariana turned back to Joe. "Tell me. Who of you two's life do you value most? Yours…" She turned back to Winter. "Or hers?" Winter glanced at Joe. For the first time in his life he could see she was afraid, truly afraid for her own life. Even battling the commanders in Kanto she had been stern and brave. But now, facing this brutal figure of a woman, she had lost her nerve. She was terrified, and so was he. They couldn't fight her, in pokémon battle or in combat. Ariana stood back, looking at the two of them. "Truly a sad image to see." She muttered.

"Silver…!" Joe gasped, trying to shout but his lungs were too wounded to supply him with enough oxygen. "Help…!" Silver looked at his friend. He wanted to help. He really did. But the giant weezing next to him wouldn't let him. It was a threat, a bomb that would go off if he so much as breathed wrong. He wanted to keep his face on today. He, Ross and Ruby were stuck surrounded by the other two commander and their pokémon. No one was getting out of this situation. Ralph couldn't move. Frank was useless at anything. And the five trainers were beaten. It was all over. The end of a long journey.

Ariana pulled her glove up, flexing her fingers to supply them air and space. "You lot are coming back with us." She stated, smiling down at the two defeated trainers. "Archer wants to say hi, and his methods of doing so are very specific and very effective." She turned on her heals. "But first." She stated. "First, we execute your friend!" Joe glanced up.

"No!" He gasped. "Don't you dare touch him! Don't hurt Ralph!" He reached out his hand from the muddy ground and grabbed Ariana's boot. She kicked him away effortlessly. She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out a shiny silver six barrel revolver, rolling the barrel with her free hand. Ralph looked terrified as the Rocket commanded strolled demonically towards him. Ariana grinned victoriously.

And then sirens sounded. The redheaded commander froze to the spot. She spun around. She wasn't imagining it. Sirens, arriving quickly from the distance. Someone had called the police. She growled. With a swift spin on her heels she turned to face her fellow commanders.

"We go, now!" She commanded. Proton looked at her frantically.

"But, what about the boy?" He asked. Ariana gave him a stern, and slightly terrified stare.

"I said we go now!" She repeated. "Get to the blimp! We're leaving! Forget about them. We'll leave them for the police."

"But…!" Proton objected.

"Move, commander!" Ariana shouted. Then she was running, sprinting as fast as she could back to the ship, her heels digging up earth and grass as she sped across the field. The other two commanders followed directly after her, withdrawing their pokémon as they did so. Silver and the two humans of Team Ace relaxed again, glad that the threat of being blown up was now got. Frank was already rushing back over to them, Casey still in his arms and Ralph following closely. The rocket Commanders began climbing back onto the air ship right as a row of police cars arrived on the scene. Six officers or so stepped out altogether, one holding a megaphone. He had been planning to use it, but upon sighting the blimp he lowered it again.

"What the hell is that?" One officer asked aloud.

"Some kind of ship?" Another asked. The sergeant, the one holding the megaphone, raised it to his mouth.

 ** _"_** ** _ATTENTION TEAM ROCKET! THIS IS THE POLICE! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!"_** From the doorway to the ship Ariana could be seen laughing at them. She threw them the middle finger and the metal door pulled up in front of her, blocking her from sight. The sergeant lowered the megaphone again. "Right, bring it down, boys." He stated. The officers nodded and whipped out their hand guns. One by one they began pumping lead into the balloon. But to their actual surprise nothing seemed to happen. None of the bullets burst through balloon shell. It seemed to be lined with some kind of bullet-resistant material. The sergeant eventually called a ceasefire. The blimp raised of the ground and took of up into the sky. The air ruptured around it, sending waves of cold wind across the field. Then it took of up to the sky, leaving the land behind it.

Joe and Winter glanced at each other. Slowly they reached out hands to each other, hoping to at least connect with the other, to make sure they were okay. Around them things were happening. The police were setting up a search for the escaped Commanders and rounding up witnesses. Winter's fingers touched Joe's palm, just barely scraping his skin with her fingertip. For a second it seemed that they would be okay. That maybe they could come out of this all well. And then a policeman helped them both up and led them to a car.

* * *

The local detective for the Ecruteak City police sat down in his chair in the interrogation room, placing his wrists on the desk. Joe sat on the opposite side, looking tired, hurt and fed up. He glanced up at the man before him. He had a thin moustache and wore a tan brown trench coat with a fedora hat of the same colour. His eyes were shadowed by the weak light striking his hat, leaving the room in a massive area of dark and a small zone of light around the desk. He looked up and stared at the young man before him. He sniffled a little, and then he began to speak.

"Right, now. Master Glendee, I believe." He asked in a Yorkshire accent. "A master Joseph Derek…" He looked at the sheet before him. "…Arthur Glendee." He tapped the table. "Did I pronounce that right?" He asked.

"It's Glend-A." Joe told him. "The E has a quiet accent."

"Right, right." The detective said. "Now, can you explain to me what you were doing on that field on route 38 earlier this evening?" He asked. Joe inhaled loudly.

"I was just traveling." He told him simply. "I wasn't looking for trouble, I swear. It just happens to come to me."

"I believe you, Mr Glend-Ay." The detective said simply, mispronouncing his surname on purpose. "So why did you get involved in a fight with Team Rocket?" He asked.

Joe looked at the man who was high up in the police force. "I didn't start it." He told him. "They attacked us. They shocked my friend, leaving him paralyzed for nearly an hour." The detective nodded.

"You mean the crobat that was with you?" The detective asked. Joe nodded. Then he looked up concernedly.

"Is he okay?" He asked. He detective nodded back.

"All your friends are safe. They're waiting to be interrogated in the other room." He strummed his fingers on the desk. "Now, if we could back to the subject. Do you have any idea why Team Rocket may choose to attack you?" He asked. Joe shrugged.

"I can think of a few reasons." He said bitterly.

"Such as?" The detective asked. Joe looked up again.

"Well, I've been a nuisance to them before." Joe explained. "I usually try and stop them when I'm around. I'm practically on their number one most wanted list." The detective seemed a little impressed.

"So you've meddled with them before?" He asked. Joe nodded. The detective gave him a small, proud and impressed nod. "I see. Well, that certainly changes the subject a little." He leaned back on his chair. "Are you aware that bringing a bunch of criminals like that into a public domain is against the law, for which you can be imprisoned for up to five years for?" He asked. Joe looked at him.

"Why would I lure them to me when I clearly was in no contest to fight them today?" Joe asked him. The detective gave him a small stare that was unreadable no mater wheat angle you looked at it.

"I'm just inquiring son. Now, could you give me a description of the attackers?"

"Your officers saw them. Surely they could give you a better, more detailed answer." Joe told him. "I tend to not pay attention to what they look like. They're all the same criminal to me."

"Just try please." The detective asked, tapping his fingers again.

Joe gave a small sigh and began describing the three commanders to him, putting in as much detail as he could muster up.

"I see." The detective said when he finished. "Well, they certainly sound like a bunch of characters." He stopped to snivel his nose for a second. "I'll set my officers on full alert on the lookout for them. Meanwhile I suggest you stay vigilant, especially if they seem to have a grudge with you." Joe rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks. That's really helpful."

* * *

It was late that evening when Joe and his friends were finally let go again. They'd walk out of the police office and into the arriving twilight of Ecruteak City. It was around five o'clock by that time, and they were all exhausted. So the next place they went was the pokémon centre to get their teams healed up. Team Ace had bolted yet again, leaving them to sort out the problem. Apparently they'd be no help to the police anyway. Thankfully they'd given Casey back before they'd gone, so at least they hadn't taken him away. But now they were two men down, and one shapeshifting blob less. They sat in the pokémon centre, waiting for their pokémon to be returned to them, mulling over the event that had just happened. Joe was slightly bruised but not too badly. He seemed to have recovered quickly from his injuries. But that didn't stop Winter from worrying about him. She checked every five seconds to see if he was still okay. Every time he had to keep saying 'yes, I'm fine.' But that didn't stop her mothering over him. Ralph had recovered too, his paralysis fading away over time. He seemed just about well enough to stay conscious, although Joe was making sure to keep him close. He sighed, his hands in his lap.

"That could have gone better." He muttered, still thinking back to the fight he'd had with Team Rocket. Winter and Silver looked at him.

"Yeah." Silver told him. "But it could have also gone worse." He reminded him. Joe tried to smile at the boy but couldn't find the strength. He was too tired.

"At least it's over now." Winter said.

The glass doors slid open quietly. Joe turned his head a little. A well of anger and oncoming embarrassment struck him as he saw who it was who had entered. 'Oh god!' Joe thought. 'Why did he have to come here? Why did he have to find me now, at this point?' Winter, Silver and Ralph also turned. The man in the doorway was tall, middle aged, lightly tanned skinned and possibly of Asian origin. He wore a black cloak-like leather jacket with a hood of the same make attached, black trousers and shoes and a pair of sunglasses over one health eye and one scarred eye. He caught sight of the three of them and smiled warmly.

"Ah, there you are." He said with a wide but not evil grin. "You have no idea how tough it is to find you two." Winter and Silver looked confused, while Joe looked mortified.

"Oh god." He muttered quietly to himself. Ralph was already back onto all four wings. He took off and prepared to fight if he needed to. The man just smiled.

"Really, Ralph?" He asked, still smiling. "You're gonna attack me again? Like you did last time?"

"Ralph, heel!" Joe instructed. Ralph lowered his wings from the defensive position, but he didn't stop glaring at the figure. He knew who he was. He recognised his smell and his face, specifically his scar.

"Who are you?" Winter asked, seeming confused. "Joe, do you know him?" Joe looked at his friend. He was too terrified to let her know about who this man really was. He didn't respond, but he didn't need to. The man did that for him.

"Honestly Winter." He stated boldly. "How could someone like you forget me?" Winter looked at the man sharply, seriously confused now.

"How do you know my name?" She asked. The man chuckled.

"You seriously don't remember me?" He asked. He tilted his sunglasses, revealing that his scarred eye was milky white and practically blind. "I suppose I wasn't to important to you, though you certainly helped Joe defeat me on many occasions." Winter suddenly realised who the man was.

"Cheng?" She muttered. Ex-Commander Cheng nodded affirmatively. Winter shot up from her seat, taking a few steps back.

"What they hell are you doing here?" She snapped defensively, looking angry at the man. She had bad memories of Check. He had been a commander in Team Rocket after all. Cheng smiled.

"I just came to see someone." He told her bluntly, still smiling a little. Winter raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?" She asked. "Who."

"Your friend here." Cheng told her. His head turned back to Joe slightly. Winter looked confused.

"Why are you here to talk to him?" She asked suspiciously.

"Go away, Cheng!" Joe hissed under his breath. Cheng smiled at the boy.

"Really now, Joe." He smiled smugly. "Is that any way to talk to your father?" The atom bomb had been dropped. Joe's face went furious white. Winter's mouth dropped, as did Silver's.

"What did he just say?" Silver asked, believing he might have misheard.

"Your father?" Winter repeated. She looked from the commander, then to Joe. "No... Surely he's just messing with us, right?" She muttered, trying not to believe it. Joe took a deep breath. Now he'd really been dropped in the horse crap.

"Winter." He said, standing up and looking her in the eyes. "It's true." He said. Slowly Winter took a step back.

"What?" She asked. Her stunned expression was heart-breaking. Joe felt so rejected just by the way she was taking this news. She looked back at the commander whose smile had dropped a little at her reaction. "How long have you known this?" She asked. "Tell me!" She added, snapping at her friend.

"Since Silph Co." Joe told her. "Giovanni told me the news after you and Rocky had left." He hung his head in self-shame. Winter looked at him, not angry or appalled by hurt.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked. "I could have understood if you'd told me straight away."

"And how would you have reacted?" Joe asked her, looking back up. "You would have had the same reaction then. What was I even supposed to say?"

"That you still have a dad!" Winter told him. "I'd kill to still have my parents, no matter who they were. Why did you never even thing of telling me." She punched Joe a little too roughly on the shoulder. "You stupid, ignorant moron!" Joe looked at her, his own heart breaking. His best friend was currently shouting at him for not being truthful with her about his father who had turned out to be a Team Rocket commander they had dealt with many times on their journey. What was he supposed to say? What could he have said? He was too embarrassed by it himself. It hurt him so bad to see her this mad at him.

"I'm sorry." He muttered pathetically. Winter stopped punching him now. She looked at him for a few seconds, seemingly wanting to strike him harder. Then she spun around and walked away, huffing exclamatorily as she walked off to the on-site dormitories. Silver got up from his seat now and went to follow after her.

"Would you like me to go make sure she's okay?" He asked kindly. Joe nodded, still looking really embarrassed and heart-broken.

"Yeah, thanks." He muttered. Silver looked at the commander, then back at Joe.

"And I thought I was rather bad off." Silver muttered. He sounded like he was trying to be helpful rather than mean or abusive, but he just didn't know the right words to be so. Joe looked at him from under his eyebrows. Silver coughed and walked off, following after Winter. When they were gone Joe sat down again, slumping in his seat.

"Great job, dad!" He muttered loudly, his head in his hands. "Now my friends think I'm a liar. Excellent work, as usual!" Cheng looked a little embarrassed by himself.

"Sorry." He muttered. "I didn't know you hadn't told them. I had no idea she'd react like that. I thought your friend was much cooler headed." He sighed. "To be honest I'm still working on this dad stuff." He told him. "I have no idea where to start." Joe looked at him, his eyes reddening a little and his face angry.

"Then don't!" Joe told him. "Just go away and leave me alone! I don't want you ruining my life like you've have your own!" Cheng looked a little hurt by this comment. He frowned his eyebrows.

"I'm trying, Joe." He told him humbly. "But I'm not cut-out for all this. That's why your mother and I decided to leave you with Walker. He'd always wanted a kid, we hadn't."

"Thanks, that makes me feel better." Joe muttered. Cheng sighed, holding his hand to his head. He shouldn't have said something that truthful.

"There isn't a day that goes by I don't regret that decision." He continued. "I chose to leave my son, my only child, somewhere I couldn't see him grow up. But I didn't have much choice. I was still a part of Team Rocket back then, and you never leave Team Rocket. I was lucky that Giovanni gave me a second chance and let me go."

"You say you regret not seeing me grow up." Joe said, looking at his father again. "Yet you never came back, not even once. You even let Uncle Walker tell me you were dead?" He crossed his arms. "Did you really care that little?"

"That's not fair." Cheng told him. "I may have lost all that time, and I'll never get it back. I'll be forced to regret that decision for the rest of my life." He looked up again. "But looking at you now, seeing the boy you've grown up to be…" He smiled weakly. "You had a better childhood then I could ever have given you." Joe sighed. As angry as it made him that this man left him before he was able to see properly, he was right. If he had grown up in Team Rocket, learning awful ethics from a corrupted and twisted man and learning only crime as a way of life, then he never would have come close to being the boy he was now. He had done so much good for the people of Kanto and Johto. If he had been kept then what would have become of them? He'd probably be supreme ruler of the world, wielding it under a spiked iron cane with the hand of Team Rocket. That was no life really. Joe wouldn't have wanted that for anyone, even the most fanatic Rocket Grunt. Cheng's smile grew a little more as he saw Joe contemplating his words. "Your uncle raised you well, my boy." He told his son.

"Don't call me that." Joe told him, his face going stern again, yet a more welcoming and accepting kind of stern. He had accepted that Cheng was here, but now he wanted to know why. "Uncle Walker said you wanted to see me." Joe told him. "Is this the only reason for that?" Cheng adjusted his sleeves a little. He sighed, clearly about to say something important.

"Yeah." He admitted. "I, uh… I wanted to talk about Team Rocket." He explained. "And, considering what just happened, this is probably the best and yet worst time to do so."

Joe tilted his head. "Alright." He said. "So what is it?" Cheng rubbed his head.

"This isn't easy news." He admitted. "But I've been in touch with Giovanni for a while. His spy has apparently been informing him of what's going on behind Team Rocket. From what he said to me apparently Archer has placed you and your friends at the top of his hit list."

Joe nodded. "Yeah, I could've guessed that." He told him. "Considering what just happened."

"I know." Cheng told him.

"Is that the only thing you wanted to say?" Joe asked.

"No." Cheng continued. "There was more. I have some news on their main plan, too." Joe stood listening patiently. "Cheng waited for a second, then he continued. "Apparently, from what I've heard, from what Giovanni has told me, from what his spy has told him, from what they have discovered themselves… is that, apparently, Archer's plan is a lot bigger and a lot more… cosmic then we'd first imagined." Joe looked at him.

"What are you on about?" He asked. Cheng sighed, trying to remember what it was he'd been told.

"Do you remember what Archer's plan was that day at the top of Silph Co?" He asked. Joe went to answer, and then realised something he hadn't noticed.

"I don't know." He said, realisation striking him like a ten tone mallet to the teeth. Cheng nodded.

"No." He agreed. "Neither did I. Neither did any of us." Joe looked at the man. "Archer's insane. He's paranoid that everyone is out to get him, bar his closest commanders. That's why he has them deal with the grunts. I don't think even he truly knew what his plan was. I think he was just trying to cause havoc and gain power, in some mad believe he could take over the region with it. Looking back I don't really think he could have ever achieved it, even with that many grunts behind him." He paused. "But this time he definitely has something planned. Something big. Something seriously big." Joe looked at him.

"Just get to the point." He snapped. "I'm getting tired. I've had a long day. I don't need meandering conversations with my long lost father." Cheng looked at him.

"I don't know where you learned that disrespect for your elders?" He said with a thin smile.

"From you." Joe said back wittily, smiling himself a little. Cheng shrugged.

"But, as I was saying, this time he really does have a plan… and it's big, and it's dangerous, and its part of this lands history that almost everyone has forgotten. But Archer has found out about it and, worst of all, he's found it!"

"What are you on about?" Joe asked confused.

"You wouldn't know…" Cheng told him. "But there's a piece of mythology that describes a great being that used to own this region all to itself. It's not confirmed if it was every human, pokémon or… something else… but according the myths it was destructive. Very much so." He paused. "The ancient people of the land referred to it by multiple names. The mountain Eater, the World Walker, The Terraformer, The Great Destroyer. Many titles, many artistic drawings. It's all classic mythology."

"But, as you say, that's all myth." Joe told him. "Myth's aren't real."

"No." Cheng agreed. "But they're based upon some truth. Something someone saw once on a foggy night. Whether you believe that the legendary pokémon are gods or not we know they exist. Recent accounts prove so. No one would dare say that such people lied, because the proof is plentiful."

"Where is all this going?" Joe asked him.

"Hold on a second." Cheng told him. "I'm just getting there." His expression was a bit more solemn. "Well, Walker informed me what you told him. It seems that your friend Silver did in fact see Team Rocket carrying away the legendary Lugia. Giovanni's spy also confirmed this for me. With a beats like that Archer could take the region over in a day. He knows he has that power, too. Yet he hasn't done so, which suggests he wants something else. Lugia could destroy a city or two, but not an entire region. Plus Archer has no way to control it. Legendary pokémon are too powerful to catch and he'd never be able to gain its respect. But I don't think that's why he wants it." Cheng went quiet, as did the room. Time seemed to slow down for the following news. Cheng leaned a little closer in, keeping his voice low so that no one else heard. "Archer wants to awaken the Great Destroyer." He told the boy. "He wants to use it to level this region to the ground!" Joe was quiet. Then he nearly burst out laughing.

"What?" He asked. "He wants to use some mythical monster to destroy all of Johto. That's ridiculous. You're joking right?" Cheng looked anything but amused.

"I'm being very serious right now." He told his son. "And he's after you, so if I were you I'd believe it. He's out of his mind, but he's not blind. He can see you're in his way so it's likely he'll keep coming after you. So I'd suggest you keep your head up and your eyes open for a while." Joe looked at his father, his smile fading away again.

"And what are you going to be doing during that time?" He asked.

"I'll going to meet up with my brother for a bit, discuss this whole situation together and plan out a response."

"Am I likely to bump into you again?" Joe asked. Cheng thought.

"It's possible." He told him. "But not likely." He rubbed his wrists. "Those pokémon you gave me to take care of are doing well." He told him. "Pitt and Cinders I believed you named them. They work well together. They haven't let me down so far. I've been doing my best to keep them healthy, but they seem to do most of it themselves." Joe smiled.

"Thank you." He told him. His father smiled and turned to go.

"Oh, and one last thing." He said, quickly spinning back around. "I have something of yours." He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a weird arm brace designed for his left arm. It had a weird blue coloured bad on it. "Your shield device." Cheng told him. "Your uncle asked me to pass it back to you. You left it behind when you came to Johto. He thought you'd need it." Joe took the brace and looked it over. It was the same as he remembered it. The small red button near the thumb hole would snap the large shield up when pressed, which would then bring up a protect shield to cover that. He had forgotten he didn't even have it. He hadn't had to use it much in Kanto, but when he did it was incredibly useful, until it ran out of juice of course. Cheng tilted his sunglasses up again. "I must go now." He said. He took a few steps back. "I'm sorry about the whole thing you're your friend. See you around, kid." He clicked his tongue, smiled at his son and walked off.

"Goodbye..." Joe whispered after him. "…Commander." He sighed. His eyes turned to Ralph who had fallen asleep on the bench. He snored so loud it was as if he'd swallowed a cave entrance. Joe found himself yawning. It was about time he got to bed too.


	24. Chapter 24: Split up in Mt Mortar

The morning couldn't have arrived quicker for Joe. He barely got a wink of sleep at all. He had separated himself from the rest of his friends. While Winter and Silver were sleeping in the actual resting rooms, he and Ralph had taken up rest on the bench in the waiting room. Nurse Joy had allowed them to do so. She had 'overheard' their situation and she'd even supplied them with a few pillows and a thin blanket from the store cupboard. Joe couldn't have been more grateful to her for that. It hadn't been an easy sleep. The bench was already uncomfortable, but Winter's glare, the words of distrust she had spewed at him when she'd finally found out. Her words were rusty needles sewn into his clothing to forever torture him every time he moved and even slightly shifted. They would scratch him whenever he moved his arm, they would nick him whenever he breathed, and they would spear him whenever he took a simple step. No matter what he did to escape them, her nails would never go away. He couldn't shut his eyes. There was too much on his mind. His father had truly screwed everything up for him again. His mere existence was causing more trouble than he had not being around. And then, of course, there was the incident. The fight, the attack, the Rocket Commanders. At least the police were acting on all this now that they'd done something to get their attention, but still. Why were they there? Why at this point in time? What were they hoping to gain from defeating him? Was he really that much of a threat? He, a mere boy of thirteen. He tried not to understand the motives of Team Rocket. He feared that such efforts may destroy whatever innocence remained in his head.

But off all the things that had happened that day, the real thing that was keeping him up was Winter. He couldn't stop thinking about it. The glares she had given him. She hated him for lying to her. She felt like she had been lied to, and so she was now turning her back on him. How could he have been so stupid? He should have told her earlier, he wanted to tell her earlier… but how could he have? How does someone admit that their father is not only alive but also a commander of Team Rocket which you happen to have battled and thwarted many times? Joe hadn't known how to say it. So when she did eventually find out she could only assumed he had kept it from her purposefully. That was any further then the truth. Winter was his best friend. He'd never lie to her. Then Joe's subconscious began to say things back. It began to mention other lies, more important lies. 'You never told her what you actually think of her.' It would hiss at the back of his head. 'You always lie to her. That smile on your face, that warm glance every now and then. She doesn't know what that means, because you haven't told her. How many more lies do you want to make up just to hide your own emotions from those you love?' Joe rolled over and shut his eyes forcefully. Maybe the morning would be better.

Seconds later he was shaken awake by someone. An angelic voice whispered quietly to him.

"Joe." It said in a young female tone. "Joe. Wake up."

Joe's eyes opened. Winter was kneeling next to him, her hand on his shoulder, and a weak but guilty smile on her face. He blinked a few times. There was light coming through the windows, bright sunlight. It made the room shimmer and his eyes ache with unnatural pain. Beside him he heard Ralph shuffle as he woke up too. Winter pulled her arm away again.

"It's morning." She told him. "Are you okay?" Joe groaned.

"Yeah." He said, barely conscious yet. "What are you doing out here?" He asked. Winter looked a little embarrassed by herself.

"I came out to check on you." She admitted. "I've got to admit I'm a bit embarrassed about our fight yesterday." She knelt up a bit, looking apologetic. "Joe, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you. I was just… I was feeling a bit hurt that you'd keep a lie like that from me." Joe sat up, the sheet falling of his chest and onto his lap.

"It's okay." He told her. "You don't need to apologise. You're right, I should have told you. But I didn't know how. I mean, how would you have said what I needed to?" He asked.

Winter shrugged. "I would have done the same as you." She admitted. "And not tell anyone. But still, you should be able to trust me. You should feel like you can trust me. After all you're my b… She stopped. It seemed like she had been going to say something else, something a bit more powerful, but she'd changed her mind for some reason. "…best friend." She finished, biting her tongue a bit. Joe looked at her, and grinned gratefully.

"Thanks, Winter." He said. "What would I do without someone like you around?" Winter blushed a little and hid her face.

"You'd probably be face down in a ditch." She chuckled a little darkly. "You and Ralph. Though you don't need me that much." Joe laughed.

"We bloody do." He told her, chuckling. "Not only for geography and basic street smarts. If you weren't around I'd be so bored. You help make each day a little more bearable." She grinned brilliantly.

"Thanks." She chuckled a little. "My BF" Joe smiled back.

"Winter, you know that means…?"

"Oh yeah." She realised suddenly, blushing slightly. "I meant BFF" she told him quickly. Joe raised a tired eyebrow, still grinning.

"Sure you did." He told her, yawning. "Seriously though. Thank you for not kicking me away. I probably deserve it, but thanks all the same." Winter smiled warmly at him. She reached her arms out and hugged him close, embracing her best friend like a long lost brother.

"You're welcome." She said, smiling contently. Joe hugged her back, feeling a little awkward but going with it anyway. It was so far the best part of the day, and already a million time better than the previous night had been. They had at least made up again, and hopeful this would make things just that little bit better from now on… or at least for a while. While no one was looking, Ralph found himself smiling too.

* * *

When they were ready to go the group set of again, packing up their belongings, checking they had all their pokémon present and then heading out of the pokémon centre to continue on with their journey. Now they were heading east, towards mahogany town. In order to get there though they'd have to pass through Mt Mortar. It wouldn't be tough and it shouldn't take them to long so long as they stuck to the path and didn't run into any problems, but Joe was feeling pretty tired. He was rather apprehensive about going in there, not because it was especially dark or dangerous. From what he heard Mt Mortar was actually a pretty casual place to pass through. No, he was concerned something would go wrong. Things hadn't been going to well recently, especially considering the previous evening, and if something did happen he feared he wouldn't be able to deal with it. But Winter was standing by him, a little more closely than usual actually. She would help him, he knew that for sure. And Silver wasn't that much of an asshole. If something bad did happen he probably would lend a hand in. Just a hand, mind you. He wasn't made of limbs, was he? As they continued on the path, leaving Ecruteak behind, Joe held back behind the group a bit, allowing himself some space. This worked for a while. Then Silver decided to slow up and meander up next to him to talk.

"How are you doing?" He asked, trying to be kind, which was truly surprising. Joe couldn't tell if he was being mocking or was genuinely checking up on him.

"I'm fine." He muttered, sounding slightly tired. Silver nodded.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean I wouldn't be if I were in your shoes. I'd feel awful after being shot down like you were." He looked at Joe from the edge of his eyes. "If you asked me I think she was being a bit harsh." He whispered, seemingly trying to make him laugh.

"She apologised this morning." Joe told him in a muttering tone.

"Oh. Winter already apologised?" He asked. "I didn't see that." He smiled and winked. "Guess she cares a bit more about you then you know." Joe turned his head to the redhead boy.

"Shut up, Silver." He muttered.

Silver shrugged. "Sorry." He said defensively "Just trying to cheer you up."

"Well you're failing." Joe told him.

"Sorry." Silver repeated. Joe thought it was odd he was trying to be so nice. Usually he'd want that, but because he wasn't used to this and because his head was still in a bit of a dark place, he found it purely annoying. "If it's of any consolation…" Silver spoke up again. "I'm jealous of you." Joe looked up again.

"You what?" He asked, genuinely stunned. "You're actually jealous that my dad is a criminal?"

"Ex criminal." Silver reminded him. "Well no, I'm not jealous of that. But at least you have a dad still. Neither me nor Winter do. So what if he is a thief, at least he's turning up for you. At least he's trying to be a part of your life. Okay, so he's not perfect and he's done some bad things, but he didn't seem that bad."

"You've only met him recently." Joe told him simply. "You didn't know him when he was still a part of Team Rocket."

"But you get my point." Silver told him. "I never met my dad. My mom barely knew him, either. She kicked me out when I was ten. I haven't seen her since. I don't have a family. They don't want me. That's why I got into the situation I was in when you first met me." Silver sighed. "But, hey, at least you have someone who _wants_ to spend time with you." He finished. Joe looked at Silver. He had never known his backstory. But now that he'd been told it, he was surprised. He'd assumed that Silver just chose to act the way he did, but it seemed that he'd never been taught any better in the first place. He'd lived with a family that didn't want him. Of course he would become a bad apple. Anyone growing up like that would turn that way. But, since he'd met them, he'd seemed to have… changed. He was becoming kinder, friendlier, and more polite. Joe hadn't really noticed it much, but now that he was really thinking about it, it was obvious. Silver was a better guy then he'd originally assumed. And the worst part was he had a point. Joe did have someone. He did have a parent still, someone to possibly turn to and ask for help whenever he really needed it. Okay so Cheng wasn't a great dad, but he was at least a dad. Everyone deserved a dad. If you didn't have a dad then you didn't have someone to truly keep their eye on you, at least not in the same way. Thinking about it that way made Joe realised that, actually, he was lucky. Lucky that he had discovered his father when he did, otherwise he may never have done so at all. Silver smiled him and sped up his walk again. "Just remember that." He said. Then, without another word, he walked on, heading a bit further ahead to catch up with Winter who had gotten a bit further ahead. Joe and Ralph continued on, taking into account the words their friend had said.

Soon they had the mountain in view, and a short walk after that they were standing at the entrance into its caves. The maw in the rock gaped open, echoing winds billowing from within, causing an eerie whisper to follow through. Behind it darken lurked indistinguishably. The three trainer peered in, unintimidated by its freakish mouth.

"This would be the entrance to the caves then." Joe noted.

"Yep." Winter agreed, a hint of sarcasm rising in her tone. "The dark. Great! I love the dark!" Joe nudged her a little.

"Don't worry." He told her. "I'll be there." He said in a comforting manor. She smiled back, although her response suggested she saw that as an insult.

"Oh will you?" She said sassily. "And you think I need help, why?" She asked. Joe fell quiet.

"I didn't mean it like that." He muttered quietly.

"I know." Winter told him quickly. "I was just teasing." Joe smiled again.

"I wouldn't worry about darkness." Silver told them. From what I've heard these caves are pretty well lit. It's just a huge underground lake cavern, so the light from outside bounces of the water and illuminates the whole area. It should be perfectly fine seeing inside." Winter seemed relieved.

"Thank god for that." She muttered, wiping her brow. "I can't stand the dark."

Joe took a step forwards, glancing back at his friends. "Well waiting around won't get us anywhere." He said determinedly. "We should get going straight away if we want to keep good time. Team Rocket isn't likely to wait for us." He stepped through the entrance, his friends following after him.

Silver had been right it turned out. The cave interior was indeed well lit, or at least bright enough to see without a torch or having your eyes wide open. The light from the entrance reflected off the wet rock walls and into a large pool of lake of water dug several feet down in a huge cavern bellow the floor they were on. The cave itself was one gigantic room, with several spare rock walls in it for some odd random reason. Clearly the interior designer had been a bit wild with their choices. Bellow them was another level, and above there was another level too, both reachable from a strangely natural collection of stairs that seemed to be dotted all over the place. This mountain cave was like a jumble of puzzle pieces that, instead of finding the right place for, someone had just glued down and bashed in hard till it fitted into place. Joe looked around, took the whole scene in, and wondered how on earth they were going to traverse this place. He expected their response to be 'slowly'. Silver stepped ahead of them, deciding to lead.

"What a cave!" He exclaimed, his voice echoing like a quire of annoying eight year old children. "You could get lost in plain sight in here!"

"I wouldn't go straying too far." Joe warned him. "We don't want to get lost. We should stay close together." Silver kicked a small stone. The echo of it bounced of the far walls and came flying back at three times the loudness to slap him in the face.

"Echo!" He shouted.

 _"_ _Echo!"_ His echo shouted back.

"Silver, stop it." Winter muttered, shaking her head. "You'll bring the roof down."

"Oh come of it, Winter." He complained. "It'll take more than that to bring the roof down." Silver continued to walk a little further in. Joe and Winter glanced at each other, then followed after him. Ralph lead up the rear, keeping his eyes out behind them. He was suspicious. He felt that someone somewhere may be watching them. Team Rocket hadn't gone away yet. They would be back at some point. And it was his job to keep an eye out to protect his friend.

The trio trekked on into the cave. They followed a small flight of naturally cut steps onto the second level and proceeded along at the edge of the watery pit, their feet hanging over the edge. They had to keep their eyes on the floor to make sure that they didn't slip.

"Be careful up here." Silver told them as he led the group across the thin ledge hanging over the watery cliff. "It's pretty high up."

"Thanks for pointing that out!" Joe called back, trying not to look down for the fear of becoming nauseous. It was strange that he still had some element of acrophobia, especially since he was fine flying on Ralph and had been in many height related issues before in the past. Yet, beyond all that, he still had this fear. He tried to gulp it down and press on, deciding it was best if he just kept his head up and breathed slowly. After a short shuffle and cautious walk they passed the ledge and reached a flat and open area of the level. Joe fell to his knees, glad he wasn't looking into an abyss anymore. He got back up a second later, Ralph helping him stand again. Winter walked over to check on him.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked. Joe nodded just about.

"Yeah." He muttered. "I just… that was pretty high up." He muttered. Winter took his hand.

"Do you want me to lead for a bit?" She asked. Joe looked at her gratefully and nodded.

"Yeah, that would help a bit." He agreed. Winter smiled. She let go of his hand and walked on past Silver. The redhead trainer was surprised when she suddenly started leading their team, barging past him as he rested and checked his bag. She smiled back at the two boys.

"Come on then." She called. "Let's get moving. We don't have all day."

Winter's method of encouragement surprisingly worked very well. The simple fact that she encouraged them to keep going and wouldn't let them stop somehow managed to stop either of them from complaining and make them want to keep going. Joe was one-hundred percent grateful for that. He felt more accepted again, especially since she'd asked him first. Ralph kept up his back. Joe noticed that he was looking around a lot. Maybe he was getting paranoid. He tried to check up on Ralph but when he asked what he was doing Ralph just shrugged and kept on looking around. Joe decided to ignore it. The group travelled on through the cave, passing more ledges and small rocky mazes that only went up to the height of their waists. Eventually though they came across a large rock wall in a lowered area of ceiling near the halfway point of the cavern. It stretched out across the whole level, from the curving rock wall to the plummeting edge it spanned, becoming a natural barrier against anything large that may want to pass through. Fortunately however there was a small tunnel entrance in the wall, large enough for a fully grown human, a crobat or anything slightly bigger to pass through without getting stuck. And, as the group quickly found out, behind that wall was a tunnel. Further down that was the path they had to traverse. Joe shrugged to the air.

"Can't be much further on." He assumed. "Come on. It's only a bit of rock and dark." Winter laughed after him.

"Oh ha ha!" She chuckled dryly "You say that when something tries to jump us in there."

"Stop complaining about the dark." Silver told her, smiling cheekily. "It might start complaining back otherwise." He winked into the darkness, suggesting that some devilish demon or nasty ghoul lurked within its shadows. Then, calmly, he stepped into it, smiling back. Winter rolled her eyes. She may admit she felt a little anxious about the dark, but she wasn't going to put up with being teased for it. Slower, more warily, she stepped in after her friends. The floor was cold and craggy, being drier under the rock roof, away from the dripping of water and the drop of the stalactites. The trio kept going, pulling out flashlights to deal with the darker tunnel ahead of them, and not letting its shrouding embrace get the better of them. Joe led the way on again, his flashlight wavering about through the dark inside of tunnel. An echoing wind seemed to be coming from further down, possibly from the exit that the tunnel would eventually lead to. But, right now, they were continuing on under the lower rocky roof, keeping their eyes open. Something splashed under their feet, causing Winter to jump in surprise when she heard it. Upon inspection it turned out to be just a small puddle of water on the floor. She apologised after getting a couple of annoyed looks. Then they continued on again, wandering into the invisible haze of black.

Then they came to a T junction. The pathway split of in two ways, one heading to the left of them, the other continuing on. They stopped and looked at them, trying to decide which the right way was. Now most travellers would have just gone down the path onwards. That would have seem most obvious. But to a smarter, more aware traveller this would be just a little too obvious. This wasn't a question on which way led out of the mountain. This was a question of which way led out of the mountain the fastest. The trio of trainers stood at the crossing paths, looking around to try and figure out which was the right way. Even Ralph couldn't seem to tell, and he had more acute senses then they did, in all areas.

"What now?" Silver asked confused.

Joe scratched the back of his head. "I don't know." He admitted. "Maybe we should split up?" He suggested. Winter shook her head.

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. We could easily get lost." Joe nodded. She was right. Knowing their group getting lost was a cert. Suddenly Joe's flashlight began to die.

"Oh come on!" He exclaimed, tapping it against his palm. "Don't do this now!" The light died, going out with a sickly flicker of white, then nothing. He groaned. "Damn lights gone out now." He muttered, swinging the torch around carelessly.

"I might have something that can help." Silver spoke up suddenly. He reached for a belt. A fifth pokeball sat there, one Joe hadn't spotted before, because it hadn't been there before. It was this pokeball that Silver then reached for and unclipped. With barely a flick of his hand he flicked it up, releasing a small metal floating ball of steel with two magnets attached to it and one rather large eye. The Magnemite buzzed and vibrated at a levitating position a few feet above the ground. "Magnemite, use flash!" Silver instructed. Magnemite sparked, spun around, rotated its magnets, and then released a large yellow flash of light. The area around it lit up as the small sentient metal creature glowed bright yellow and white. Joe looked blindly at the pokémon, covering his eyes in protecting. Then he looked at Silver.

"When did you catch that?" He asked. Silver smiled back at him.

"Back on route 38." He told him. "Yesterday, when we were on the way back to Ecruteak. Before… before team Rocket." He added. Joe continued to look at him.

"I don't remember seeing you do that." He stated, still surprised. Silver nodded.

"Well yeah, you weren't looking." He explained. "Now come on. Let's get going before we all die down here."

"What would kill us?" Winter asked him.

"I don't know, now come on. Let's pick a path and get going down it soon." Joe turned back to the T junction, but he just couldn't decide which way to go. It was too open. He had no idea where either of them would go. And what if they went down the wrong path. Where would it take them?

"I just don't know which one to take." He said finally, sounding rather yielding.

"Maybe one of our pokémon can tell which way to go." Winter suggested. They looked at her, then at each other as a collective.

"It's worth a shot I guess." Joe decided. "Ralph, can…" He turned, but the look on his crobat friend's face told him that today he was not willing to help in this area. "Never mind." Joe decided. "Maybe someone else."

"Try getting Leaf's help." Winter suggested. "I heard that grass types can figure their ways out of caves and mazes from the scents they pick up in the air. Maybe he can use something like that to find the way to go." Joe thought for a second, then gave an encouraged nod.

"It's worth a try." He agreed. He reached for a pokeball and released Leaf from it. The young bayleef turned back to him with a smile. "Alright Leaf." Joe began to instruct. "Do you think you could find the way out of the cave for us?" He asked. Leaf nodded and turned back, looking down the two paths. He closed his eyes, his leaf rustling on his head as the wind blew lightly past it. His small nostrils twitched slightly. Then he stepped forwards, starting to plod down the forward path. "This way then." Joe decided. He went to follow after his pokémon.

Then, quite suddenly out of nowhere, there was a loud, echoing, howling roar that came down the pathway they were about to take. Everyone stopped, frozen to the spot. The roar echoed on, blasting through and past the group and causing their spines to go cold and their skin to shiver. The roaring quickly stopped. And then the roof began to shake. Cracks appeared in the rock above them and dust began to fall onto their clothing.

"Get back!" Winter exclaimed. She grabbed Joe and Silver's collars and dragged them backwards with a sharp pull just as large rocks began to fall down. Immediately they were pulled to safety. Ralph shot backwards with a powerful blast of his wings, avoiding the rocks as they clattered to the floor from the roof above. They were all safely away from the cracks now, but not all on the right side. Only one of them was split off from the group. Leaf. The poor bayleef stumbled around, the quaking floor causing him to lose his balance. Rocks were colliding around him, forming small pillars and piles.

"Leaf!" Joe exclaimed. He tried to rush to his pokémon, but Winter held him back. It was too dangerous. The roof was already collapsing. Leaf looked at his trainer, dust and rock pieces causing him to cough and choke in a thin mist of brown. Then the roof collapsed completely, causing a wall of stone and debris to block out the path. Leaf was gone. The quaking stopped finally. The tunnels fell silent. Joe rushed to the wall, grabbing rocks and heaving them aside as fast as he could.

"Leaf!" He exclaimed fearfully, lifting up a large rock in both arms and throwing it aside with a loud grunt. "Can you hear me, buddy!" He called. "Talk to me!" Through the cracks in the rock Joe could hear the terrified and panicking call back.

"Bay…!" Leaf pleaded. Joe placed his ear to the rock gaps. He could hear the sound of scrabbling flat feet muffled under his pokémons destressed call. It sounded like he was trying to break through the rock.

"Just stay calm!" Joe called through the gaps. He couldn't see because the rocks were so tight together, but he could definitely hear Leaf, and Leaf could hear him. "Don't move! Just stay back. I'm going to move these rocks!" Joe knelt forwards and began heaving more rocks, trying to move them aside but finding as he did so he just dislodged the pile, causing more to fall down onto him.

"Joe, that's not going to work!" Winter told him. "There's too much for just us to move alone." Joe turned back to her.

"Then help me!" He instructed, real concern in his tone. "You have water pokémon. Get them out and was this rock away!"

"I don't think that will help." Silver stated. "There's too much rock!"

"Just do it!" Joe roared, trying to move more rock. Silver and Winter released their water pokémon. They set them to work dissolving the rock away with water guns and hydro pumps. The pokémon tried, and marginally succeeded, but it soon came to be obvious that the more rock they destroyed the more that fell down to replace it. The most they managed to do was create a small peep hole for Joe and Leaf to see each other.

"It's no good." Winter told them surrendering. "The rock is too tough and there's too much. We'll never move it by ourselves!" Joe stepped back, finally admitting defeat, water and rock dust plastering his skin and clothes. He grunted, punching the rock wall lightly with his fist.

"Leaf!" He called, looking through the hole they'd made. "Just stay there. I'm gonna look for a way round and then I'll come get you!" Leaf looked at his trainer back through the small gap. He was distressed and nervous and lost and alone and very, very afraid. He stumbled backwards a bit, nearly tripping on his four clumsy legs. Then he turned tail, running as fast as he could down the tunnel, away from the group and from his trainer. "No!" Joe called after him. "Leaf, come back! Don't go off alone!" But Leaf didn't listen. He was panicking now, Joe could see that. He gave a distressed call of fear back, then dashed off into the darkness of the tunnels. Joe cursed and thumped the rock harder. "Damn it!" He yelled. He turned around and stepped away from the rock pile.

"Where's he gone?" Winter asked. Joe walked past her.

"Into the tunnels!" He told her. He turned and looked down the left tunnel path. It was dark down there, too. The eerie whisper of shadows beckoned to them that they step inside the gloom. At this point Joe was willing to oblige to them. He took a large step forwards, his expression stern yet concerned. "Come on!" He called, starting up a run. "We need to reach him before he gets into real trouble. From behind him he heard Ralph cry out and the sound of rushing wind. A second later he was at his companion's side, his own face a mask of worry. Joe nodded to him. "Can you sniff him out?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded, his tiny nostrils tweaking as they picked up the scent of Bayleef. "Good." Joe told him. "Then lead the way." Ralph nodded and sped up, passing his friend and leading the group as he, Joe, Winter, Silver and Silver's Magnemite hurried through the second rocky tunnelway, in the search of their companions lost plant pokémon.

* * *

In the darkness the pack slept motionlessly, the echo of unconscious growls and grumbles filling the cave they lived in. A pile of forms all huddled up together in the low gloom of the tunnels, sleeping together, eating together, living together, hunting together. The ten doggy forms began to stir as something disturbed their canine senses. Ten noses wrinkled, and then ten pairs of eyes opened. Slowly each form pushed itself up onto its four black sleek feet, ending in small brown doggy paws. Their muzzles rose up to the roof, sniffing gleefully. Pray was nearby. New pray, odd pray, pray that their keen nostrils didn't know the smell of yet. With an obedient glance ten canine heads turned to the right, looking up onto a tall overlooking rock near the back of their den. On it the alpha stood, the tallest of the dogs, adorned in his grey bone ribcage and collar that protected its exterior like a thin and misplaced suit of armour. Its horns curved back like the spears of hell, and its tail whipped as a spear-like thin bifurcated point. It sniffed the air also and smiled gleefully. Then, as the alpha dog of the pack, it let out a fearsome and wolf-like howl. The smaller, beta dogs joined in the howl, turning it into a chorus of terror. Then the alpha breathed a plume of fire to the roof. Its children followed its example, spitting small embers of fire up at the roof in excitement, their tiny tails wagging furiously. The alpha jumped of its perch, walked through the crowd of ten dogs, then charged of down the tunnel, howling like a rabid jackal. The smaller dogs followed suit, the smell of pray in their nostrils and the hunger for blood in their slobbering mouths. The hunt had just begun.

* * *

Leaf hurried on through the dark, unable to see, unable to breath and unable to stop. He just kept running, terrified for his life and terrified of the dark. It was shrouding up behind him and in front of him like a darkening cloud of nothingness. Still he kept running, unable to slow up for anything. His trainer had been left way behind him. He knew he should have listened to Joe. He knew he shouldn't have run off. But hi nerves had gotten the better of him, and he'd scarpered like a tiny squirrel upon sighting a human, straight up the next tree, or in this case down the only tunnel he could get down at this point. He reached a turn and didn't stop to look. He curved around the corner and began running left, into another tunnel pass. After turning into three more tunnels he finally stopped, becoming exhausted and tired out. The terrified bayleef rested against the wall, looking frantically and paranoid around. He could see nothing but rock wall through the shadows that wrapped around him. Leaf knelt down a little, resting his legs and head as he inhaled the dank oxygen of the cave into his tired lungs. He rested there for a while, never daring to blink or stop looking around out of fear that something would jump him at any point. After a minute passed he finally relaxed. It seemed there was nothing in these caves to fear. Slowly he rose back to his feet.

And that's when he noticed a strange smell. It was charred, like fresh carbon coal cindering in a light fire, but slowly growing in stench. There was also a hint of dog with it, not so noticeable under the flames but still there, an unnerving smell to catch in such a dark area. Leaf's spine sent a chill up to his brain. This new scent was a worrying one. It was almost alive. Leaf turned back down the tunnel. In the far distance, growing ever so closer, he could see light. But this was not sun light, nor was it the light of an electric torch. This was the light of a flame, red and fluid and moving with raw energy. And it was getting brighter. That meant it was getting closer. Leaf took a small step back, feeling fear rise in him. And then, from ahead, a terrifying canine howl echoed. The high pitched wolf-like bark echoed of the walls of the tunnel, causing a rebounding effect. The rocks shook with the sound. A second back joined in the choir, then a third, then a fourth. Soon there was a chorus of roaring, howling barks, all growing in loudness and all getting quickly closer. Leaf backed away to the end of the tunnel. And then a small black furred dog turned down the tunnel he'd come from. It skidded on its small fat paws and bumped slightly into the rock wall as it tried to turn. Its nose was sniffing and its jaw was slobbering. Then it noticed Leaf cowering away. The houndour let out a loud howl and charged, rushing at Leaf with flames on its teeth. Behind it another nine houndour turned the corner, charging as a horde at their oversized pray. Leaf knew he was no match for them by himself. He broke into panic. The bayleef turned and ran away, fleeing from the chasing pack of dogs.

Leaf ran down the tunnel, taking several turns blindly, desperate to get away from his chasers. The pack wasn't giving up, however. It continued to follow the larger grass type, moving as a combined unit, a being of one mind but ten bodies. They slobbered and snarled and yapped with blood hungry excitement, biting at the gaps between Leaf's feet as they slowly caught up on him. Leaf sped up, desperate to get away. As he turned a sharp corner he threw a flurry of razor leafs back with a flick of his head. The attack struck the houndour up front, causing them to flinch but not stop. The pack slowed a little, but it quickly regained speed, catching up on him again. Leaf tried again, this time aiming at the roof above him. This second attack dislodged a few loose rocks, causing them to fall and strike the dogs at the front. A short but jagged and surprising rock wall crashed down in front of the pack, causing all ten dogs to jump back and halt, all yapping with shock. They barked at the rocks blocking them off, trying to figure out how to get past. Some automatically tried climbing the rocks, their paws coming into view at the top of the rubble. Leaf knew it would only hold them back a few seconds longer. He kept on running.

He reached another T-junction and was about to run down the left tunnel when suddenly fire came out of it. He jumped back just in time as the flamethrower flew past his face, scorching the air he had almost stood it. The light blinded him momentarily. Then, when the flames faded again, Leaf was left staring back into the face of a larger, darker skinned dog. The Alpha dog, Houndoom, growled at Leaf, its fangs bare. Its teeth were snarling at him. Then it roared, filling every fibre of the plant pokémon with fear. Leaf backed up, eyes wide and terrified. Behind him he could hear the patter of canine feet getting closer. The houndour pack had already made it over the wall, and they were catching up fast. Houndoom stepped slowly towards Leaf, drool falling from its lips. Leaf turned and ran, sprinting as fast as he could on all fours down the right tunnel. Houndoom chased after him.

Leaf kept on running. He wasn't going to give up. He knew he couldn't give up. He could get out of this situation. He would get out of this situation. But as the dogs got closer, and the hot breath of the fire breathing houndoom Alpha branded his tail he felt his own fear chilling inside him. A sense of doom was becoming him. He kept on running, no longer for hope of survival but for dear life, for the chance that, maybe, someone would save him. He pleaded to Arceus, to any deity that cared, that his trainer would find him. But Joe never came. Neither did Ralph, or any of their friends or teammates. They had abandoned him. And now he was dogfood. Leaf kept running, sweat pouring down his leathery vegetable skin. He began huffing for breath. His legs were beginning to knock and ache. The pack roared and howled with excitement. They could tell he was getting tired. Leaf refused to let them get him. He wasn't dying here, it this dark cave inside a lonely mountain where no one would find him. He wasn't going to be ripped apart like some wild animal. He was going to run, and when running failed him he was going to fight.

He turned another corner. And they he was hit square in the face with a blast of realisation. In his way was a rock wall. The tunnel ended before him, its curved end surfacing up like the last tip of a thin life string. This was it. The end of the line. There was nowhere else to run. The only way to go was back. Leaf turned around. The pack was standing there, in a scrunched up row of black forms. The dogs slobbered and growled, fire glowing through their teeth. They were hungry, and now their pray was trapped. Leaf tried to cower back, but the wall snuck up on him, bumping him forwards again. Houndoom stepped past his children and up to the front of the pack. His claws scratched the rock ground, causing scars in the flooring as a mark of victory. His children yapped and cheered in excitement. The alpha dog glared Leaf down, forcing the last pieces of fear out of his pray. Leaf, in a last ditch attempt, threw a flurry of razor leafs at the attacking fire dog pokémon. Houndoom barely even noticed it had been hit. The crescent shaped leaves crumpled up and burned to ash as they touched his burning skin. Leaf gave up. There was nothing more he could do. If he tried to run, if he tried to physically fight back, then they'd rip him apart. There was nothing left. It was all over for him. Nowhere else to turn. Leaf sat down and let out a desperate pleading cry, the kind a lost and tormented child gives for their mother. But in his heart he knew no one was coming to rescue him. The houndoom smiled gleefully. His pray was all but finished now. All that was left was the final blow. Roasting him alive. Houndoom opened its mouth, inhaled oxygen and set its throat alight. The fire gathered in its mouth. The pack kept back as their alpha, the big black hound prepared to exterminate it's pray.

* * *

Joe hurried down the tunnel after Ralph. They had heard Leaf's pleads for help from far away, and were following the sound now more than anything. Magnemites light was illuminating the path just about, but because it was slower than they were Silver was having to carry it and drag it along with them. Ralph continued to lead them, while Joe followed. The trainer had heard the sound of his pokémon crying out, and he knew immediately he was in trouble. At that point he had sped up his run into a sprint. He ran down random tunnels, not bothering to look before he did so. He was too desperate to reach Leaf before anything happened to him. Then they'd heard the sound of dogs. The howling had echoed down the tunnels, hitting them all with its shocking high pitched roar. Joe grew anxious. These tunnels weren't so empty after all. And, if they were the kind of dogs he thought they were, then it was likely that Leaf was in very serious and very real danger. He gained speed, running through the air and shoving it aside, becoming a sharp blade through thick oxygen. Ralph kept up with him, even over speeding him a bit, following to make sure his friend didn't throw himself straight into the danger himself.

Then, just before they turned a final corner, they heard a large howl. Following that howl was the desperate plea of Leaf. He was still alive. Joe sprinted around the corner and founding himself looking at a true scene of danger. Ten small black dogs with grey external bone armour were standing in a clustered back, their backs and tails facing him. They were barking and glaring at something in front of their alpha, a much taller, horned hound, that had its mouth wide open and breathing fire. And, in front of them, kneeling in fear on his front legs and weeping like a terrified child, was a young bayleef.

"Leaf!" Joe cried without thinking.

"Cro!" Ralph called also. Leaf looked up, his face suddenly becoming impossibly grateful. The houndour all turned around. One by one they began to growl and bark at him. Joe suddenly realised how much danger he had just put himself it. The houndoom stepped to the front of the pack, pushing its children aside. Winter, Silver and Magnemite turned the corner after him, only to see the event unfolding before them.

"Houndoom!" Silver exclaimed upon sighting the alpha dog. Houndoom inhaled again, this time gathering yellow electricity. Static ran over its lower jaw and teeth.

"Look out!" Joe called. They all prepared themselves. Houndoom fired and at the same time Joe held out his shield wrist piece and switched it on. The shield his uncle had given him in Kanto, and the same one his father had passed back to him the previous night. It snapped open into a diamond shape, snapping into place within the span of a second. The blue reflective metal glistened in the dark light of the tunnel. Then a clear but noticeable energy sphere popped into existence around them, shielding them from any attacks. Houndoom's lightning struck the invisible barrier, causing it to go opaque. But the team was unhurt. The houndoom growled angrily. Its teeth bared at the humans invading its home. Joe lowered the shield again. Sometimes how he'd have survived certain events without it. He'd certainly been managing to do so up to this point, but it at least made those events easier. But now it was out of power. He'd have to wait an hour at least before he could use it again. That was its only flaw. It ran out of power quick and took forever to recharge. But now wasn't the time to praise his tools. The houndoom was still glaring at them, planning something. Joe glared back at it. Then he looked to his stranded and encircled starter pokémon. "Leaf." He called. Leaf looked up at him, still scared, but not so much anymore. "Just stay there. We'll get you out of here soon." Leaf smiled. His trainer hadn't abandoned him after all. Joe turned to his companions. "Can you get rid of those houndour?" He asked them. Winter and Silver nodded.

"We'll wash them away so you can get to Leaf." Winter told him. She unclipped two pokeballs. At the same time Silver let go of Magnemite and reached for another pokeball of his own. They released their pokémon, sending out Staryu, Mar and Croconaw to fight their enemy off. Houndoom barked once, and his dogs charged, teeth bared. "Hydro Pump, Bubblebeam!" Winter commanded.

"Surf!" Silver commanded.

The front row of houndoom were bashed back by a strong blast of water, leaving the row behind to push past their fallen siblings, only to be battered themselves by a collection of painful popping bubbles. The remaining dogs were washed away by Croconaw, who had forced the water from Staryu and Mar's attacks into a rising wave. The houndoom were all swirled up into it and washed away, further down the tunnel they had come from. The few dogs that weren't caught fled in fear of the water. Only Houndoom was left now, but it wasn't going to give up quickly.

Joe and Ralph glared at the beast, and it glared back. With barely a bark Houndoom readied a shadow ball. Ralph flew at it, grabbing Houndoom around the neck and pulling it down, causing its attack to strike the roof. Bits of rock and dust struck their bodies as the dog pokémon and the bat pokémon wrestled. Ralph wrapped one wing around Houndoom's neck and the other around its muzzle. Houndoom snapped and growled at him, trying to bite the crobat. Ralph held its mouth down, glaring into the eyes of the soulless hound. Then Ralph noticed something. A tiny detail deep in the eyes of the monster attacking him. A hint of something he'd seen before. He recognised this cruel creature, and it recognised him. That's when it struck him. This was Archer's houndoom, the same dog that he had used as a companion back in Kanto. The same one that had shot him out of the air when they'd first battle. The same one that Joe had finally defeated on the rooftops of Silph co. What was it doing here, in this cave away from his master? As he glared into Houndoom's eyes he realised there was nothing back there. Nothing but anger and hatred and regret and distrust. This creature was alone. It had been abandoned, like the rest of Archer's pokémon and commanders. And it was now angry at the one who'd once owned it. But it recognised Ralph, and it seemed to recognise Joe. That was why he'd sent his pack to attack Leaf. Joe's scent was on Leaf. It was his pokémon. This pokémon was a cruel abomination. All it was now was hatred and anger.

Houndoom finally broke out of Ralph's grip and brought its teeth crunching down on his wing. Ralph screeched in pain, causing Houndoom to flinch with the pain. That was it. It was time for this battle to end. No more pokémon for Team Rocket. Ralph grabbed Houndoom's head with his free wing and shoved it sharply and powerfully into the ground. There was a crack, and then a yelp. Houndoom's jaw went loose, freeing Ralph's wing again. The beast was unconscious, defeated for now. But who knew when it would wake up again. Ralph pushed himself onto his tiny feet. He shook his wing, bringing life back into it. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up to see Joe running over to him. Then, before he could as much as blink, he was scooped up suddenly and hugged tight. Joe embraced his friend warmly, cuddling him close.

"You fool, Ralph!" He exclaimed. "What were you thinking? You could have been really hurt!" Ralph look at his friends back with a confused expression. This was how he was being thanked? There really was no pleasing some people. Joe chuckled suddenly. "But I'm glad you did it all the same." He smiled warmly. Ralph looked a little taken aback. Then he smiled back, hugging Joe too. He was glad he was okay, too.

"Look!" Winter said suddenly. The two friends glanced at her. She and Silver and their pokémon were all looking past them, at something behind them. Joe and Ralph broke their embrace and turned. Leaf was kneeling, his head bowed and his eyes closed in concentration. But the odd part about it was his whole body was glowing bright green. Joe and Ralph looked at him in shock. What was he doing?

Inside Leaf's head he could feel his power welling up. He had had enough of being so weak. He always felt so small, so immature, and so unimportant. Well no more. It was time he started proving himself to his friends and his team, and especially to his trainer. He was no longer going to be a runt. He was no longer going to be weak. He was no longer going to be a useless tiny grass type, as he always felt he was. Now he was going to be a much stronger, much bigger, much more powerful grass type. The green aura expanded around him and engulfed him in a large spear of light. At the base small vines and flowers began to grow out, rooting the sphere to the floor. Joe, Ralph and their friends watched in amazement. Then, just as quickly as it had formed, the sphere evaporated in the same green light. The plants and vines fell away in flower petals. Where Leaf had been standing now stood a tall, proud, adult looking green plant pokémon, with a bulkier body, a longer neck, sleeker skin and a large pink ring of flower petals around its neck. On its forehead were two long plant feelers, curving back on its head. It had a bigger, stockier body and a longer tail, as well as four fatter legs to stand on. Leaf was past the days of being a young and timid bayleef. Now he was fully grown, and illuminous green. He had evolved, yet again, except this time was the last time he could do so. He was no longer Bayleef. Now he was Meganium. Joe dropped his arms to his side. He felt his jaw drop, too. Then a big grin followed up on his face. He rushed up and hugged Leaf around the neck.

"You're brilliant, Leaf!" He exclaimed, overjoyed. "I can't believe you've evolved again. Well done, buddy!" Leaf smiled back at him. He was so glad he had done well by his trainer. He was tired, he was beaten, he was still recovering from his fear, but he was happy.

"That's amazing!" Winter muttered. "I thought most pokémon had to evolve through some kind of experience in battle. But Leaf just outright did it through want." She shook her head slightly. "Never knew they could do that."

"Guess we learn something new every day." Silver muttered to her. He stepped forwards towards Joe again. "We should probably get going." He told him. "We've been in here for ages and it could take us longer to find the way out again." Joe nodded.

"Right." He agreed. He stepped away and went to join his friends, when suddenly he remembered something. "Hey Leaf?" He asked, turning back to his new Meganium. "Can you still smell the way out of here?" He asked. Leaf nodded. He was rather tired, but he could still lead them out of the cave. His antennae twitched with the smell of distant plant life. Now that he could concentrate he could find them a way out. Leaf walked past him and started heading up a tunnel. Joe beckoned his friends to follow him. "Come on." He called. "Leaf knows the way. He can lead us back out!"

* * *

Leaf lead the group on through the tunnels again, this time following the pathway he had run down, passing by the areas that the houndoom pack had come charging in from. He followed the smell of grass, the faint wet whiff of carbon breathing nature. He followed his instincts, and his nose, and, in some respects, his stomach.

They walked on for a while. Then, finally, they made it back out into the daylight. The three humans cheered for joy. They were back on the surface. They had made it of the mountain, and this time they were on the right side of it. Ahead of them was Mahogany town. They were only minutes away. In the distance to the north black clouds were brewing, but this didn't bother them. They were out again. They were finally out. That nightmare was over.

"That could have gone a bit better." Joe muttered, falling onto his knees and hugging the ground.

"Yeah." Winter agreed, sitting cross legged and leaning back, inhaling deeply. "It could have also gone worse." She told him. Joe smiled at her.

"Thanks for forgiving me earlier." He told her, suddenly flashing back to that morning. Winter looked at him. A smile appeared on her face also.

"Don't mention it." She told him. "You didn't deserve to be snapped at. Besides, you're my friend. I can't stay mad at you." Joe felt his heart warm up a little.

"Thanks." He muttered. He stood up again. "Well we ought to keep going." He decided. "Mahogany towns just ahead, so we can get a proper rest there for a while." Silver looked up at him from where he lay on the grass, an expression of exhaustion and bother on his face.

"Ow, what can't we rest a bit longer?" He groaned, moaning like a child that was being told to do its chores. Joe smiled at him.

"They'll have beds and seats in Mahogany town." He told him. "Plus they'll have food. Cooked food!" Silver shot up onto his feet.

"Well…!" He announced. "What are we waiting for?" He started strolling excitedly down the path towards Mahogany town. "Let's go get lunch!" Winter and Joe smiled at each other, laughing a little, then followed after him. Ralph, Leaf and the rest of their pokémon followed after them. Leaf kept up a large and proud smile all the way.

* * *

Danning closed the door behind him, only to turn and realise that Crystal was there, waiting for him. He jumped in surprise.

"What are you doing there?" He asked sharply. Crystal didn't answer him. Instead she responded to him with her own question.

"What were you doing in there?" She asked. Danning looked at her.

"I was just…" His voice fell short.

"…In the bosses office." Crystal continued. Danning looked around.

"I know." He told her simply. "He asked me to come see him."

"But he's not in there." She told him. "He's down at the landing station with the other commanders."

"Oh, so that's where he is." Danning said with a layer of fake realisation. "That explains why he wasn't in there then." He said dumbly. Crystal tilted her head to the side.

"What are you hiding from me?" She asked.

"Nothing!" Danning insisted defiantly. Crystal raised an eyebrow.

"I could call Archer if you don't tell me." She told him threateningly. "You could tell him why you were in there then." Usually Danning wouldn't let this kind of threat get to him, but times were getting bad. He really didn't want someone like Archer knowing what he had been doing behind his back.

"Alright." Danning hissed. "But I won't tell you here. Meet me in my dormitory at three O'clock this afternoon." He whispered. "I'll explain it all then. And make sure you aren't followed by anyone." He stepped away, and walked past the girl, heading off towards his own business. Crystal did the same, walking off to the refectory to grab herself some lunch.

Yet, unbeknown to the both of them, a third figure remained. He rubbed his fat hands greedily. A secret activity going on behind the bosses back? It he scouted this out and ratted him in, he'd get a lot of favour and money out of it. Baxter slunk away again, disappearing into the shadows of the Rocket Base hallway.


	25. Chapter 25: Lake of Rage

After a quick rest Joe and his friends kept up their trek, onwards towards Mahogany Town. The walk wasn't long. They made it to the city walls within half an hour, the sun reaching its mid-point in the sky, flicking all watches in the region simultaneously to 12PM. Leaf had had fun walking alongside them on the way. It had given him a bit of time to get used to his new body. But now that they were entering the city he'd have to return to his pokeball again. Joe made sure to withdraw him as they reached the low stone wall around the tiny woodland town.

Mahogany Town was an interesting little place to visit. There weren't many building around and most of them seemed to be homes, but all of them, bar the pokémon centre and the gym, were made of a dark coloured reddish brown wood, evidently cut from the tall, thick and branching brown barked trees that dotted around the edge of the town and made up most of the forest to the north of it. It gave the town an interesting, almost old age design and feel. There certainly weren't many other towns in Johto, or Kanto for that matter that looked anything similar. The town was almost small enough to be a village. It was actually smaller than some of the ones you'd find if you traversed some of the smaller paths on some routes. The only reason that most people saw it as a town was because of how closely they buildings were all packed. The only thing separating most of them were the gardens at the back and the paths at the front. Apart from that there was little to no space between each house and building. The only acceptation was the pokémon centre, which seemed to be placed at the bottom south of the small town all on its lonesome, presumably to give travelling trainers their space so that they didn't bother the townspeople. Some of the smaller wood cabin buildings seemed to be stores, one of which could be made out as a general store, hopefully one that sold training equipment like pokeballs and potions.

Joe stopped at the entrance to the town, looking in with appreciative awe. It was a really pretty place for somewhere so far out from most of the big towns and cities. Goldenrod, Olivine and even Ecruteak were so fare out from here that the town must have survived only by itself. It seemed that from here on out this area of Johto would not look much different. They'd already been to all the major cities. Now they were heading to the smaller, more feral outer towns to the north.

"It's a handsome place, isn't it?" Winter thought aloud, looking around the city from the low stone wall at its edge. Joe and Silver nodded in agreement.

"It's got a certain… charm." Silver agreed. Joe looked at him. Silver? Thoughtful? Appreciative? Wow, he really had changed since they'd first met him. He sighed and turned, patting Ralph on the side as he did so.

"Well, I promised lunch…" Joe reminded them. "So I think, before we do anything else, we should go grab something to eat." There was a cheer of agreements from everyone. Casey even poked his head out of Joe's bag to join in. The trainer smiled. "Alright." He said. "If anyone spots somewhere shout." He stepped past the wall and into the town.

They walked into the centre, standing in a small square of road surrounded by multiple small shops. But, as they walked into the town they started to notice just how quiet it was. There was no one about. Not one person passed them by. All the doors were shut. None of the shops had their doors open. Even the pokémon centre looked barren. The three trainers and the one trainer sized crobat looked around in confusion.

"Where is everyone?" Silver asked, sounding rather perplexed. He turned on his heels. "There's no one around." He realised. The autumn wind of the forest blew quietly through the town, causing leaves to catch in its wake and a light whistle to pass through the gaps of the buildings. Still no one came into sight.

"The whole town's empty." Winter realised.

"But where could they all go?" Joe asked. "A whole town doesn't just disappear." A few stones rolled across the path, dislodged by a quiet gust.

"Apparently they do." Silver told him, almost sounding joking, but he was too serious to be funny. Joe turned to Ralph.

"Hey, Buddy…" He began. Ralph turned to him, quickly giving him a just as confused but even more worried expression of complete befuddlement. Joe decided that asking what he thought of this was probably too obvious a question. It was plainly clear that, if they didn't know, neither would he. Instead he tried a different question to the original. "Do you hear or see anything else around here?" He asked hopefully. "Or maybe smell?" He added. Ralph took a few seconds to check his senses, but apart from the brushing wind or the empty houses or the stench of left out food there was nothing else. "Oh." Joe muttered, his hope dropping. "I see. So there's nothing here then?" Ralph shook his head. Joe sighed. "Alright." He said quietly.

"So what should we do?" Winter asked. "Should we just keep going to the next town?" Joe shrugged. He didn't know. There was no one here after all. Standing around waiting for them to come back would just prove to be time wasting. But this was such an odd mystery. Whole towns of people don't just vanish, he was sure of that. There must be some reason for it, some piece of evidence. He could feel that something was staring him blatantly in the face, and it wasn't Ralph. The crobat blinked, also looking very unsure what to do. The two friends turned away, trying to think by themselves for a bit.

Then there was a distant thunderclap. The four characters turned to the north. The storm clouds they had spotted were gathering near the centre of the forest, just to the north of Mahogany town. Lightning was beginning to strike, hitting an open looking area at the centre. Faintly they could see rain dripping down from the black clouds. Four pairs of eyes turned to each other.

"You don't think they could have gone up there, do you?" Joe suggested suddenly. Silver raised his eyebrows.

"Into the storm?" He asked. "Why would anyone do that? They'd have to be nuts to _want_ to get soaked or struck by lightning!"

Winter tapped a thoughtful finger on her bottom lip. "He might have a point." She said. Silver looked at her.

"What?" He asked.

"About the storm." She told him. They looked at her. "Notice anything odd about it?" She asked, pointing her finger now at the distant clouds. They followed her finger, looking at the storm attacking the horizon. Then they looked back.

"Not really." Silver told her. Winter sighed quietly.

"Notice how it suddenly just popper out of nowhere?" She asked. Suddenly they seemed to get it.

"Oh yeah!" Silver realised. "It did just kind of appear, didn't it?"

"Exactly!" Winter told him, her voice getting a little excited. "Storm clouds don't just appear. They have to travel. And we didn't see any on the way here before we entered the caves." She paused, clapping her hands together at their chest. "So, with evidence like that it would suggest those clouds are being made by something." She explained. "Most likely its some kind of powerful and, probably, enraged pokémon."

Silver gulped a little. "Enraged!" He repeated. "I'm not sure that's a good thing for us."

"I wouldn't be for anyone." Joe told him. "But it makes sense. If that storm is unnatural then it makes sense the town would go check it out." He looked around again. "Though maybe they wouldn't all need to go." He added.

"We should go and check it out." Winter told them. Joe and Silver looked back at her.

"What?!" Silver exclaimed loudly. "Are you mad? You want to just go running into the arms of a lightning storm and, most probably, a rather mad and pissed of pokémon?" He shook his head. "No thank you. I'm staying here." Winter looked at the cowardly redheaded boy.

"I didn't think you were the gutless kind, Silver." She said smartly. Silver bit his lip.

"Only when it comes to actually dangerous events." He explained spinelessly.

"Look at it this way." Joe told him. "If you come with us you run the risk of getting wet, but if you stay here and no one comes back you'll go hungry." Joe tilted his head. "Just take a second to decide which one you'd rather be." He told him. Silver groaned.

"Alright!" He complained. "Fine, I'll go with you up to the storm." He agreed.

"Thank you, Silver." Joe told him. Silver rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered. "But if I get soaked you're paying for the dry cleaning!" He stated.

"What dry cleaning?" Winter asked. "I doubt this town has a laundrette." Silver looked at her.

"Okay, then you're buying me lunch!" He stated again.

"Deal." Joe told him. "Now let's get going before that storm either goes away or gets bigger."

* * *

The group headed through the town again and exited it once more through the north entrance, stepping onto the concrete path of route 43. The northern route was surrounded by a large forest of adult mahogany trees, coming in various species and colours. Joe didn't even bother trying to figure out which ones were which. He knew nothing of the biology and family groups of trees. He could barely even name half of them. The woods clustered in certain areas of the route and thinned out in others, creating small areas of short grass by the edge of the path. In some areas there were small shallow ponds covered with thick layers of algae that had built up over many years.

They made their way up the path, Joe leading them on perceptively while Winter and Silver walked alongside him. Ralph flew on a bit, taking in large gulps of forest air. It seemed he'd missed the smell and taste of woodland air. Back in Kanto there had been armies of forest, especially near their home in Pallet Town. Johto had been more open and watery. This was one of the first forest areas they'd actually been in here. While the other routes had had trees this one was literally a forest. It was actually quite relaxing. But the storm over it wasn't. About three minutes after they'd first stepped onto the route they found themselves under the outer edge of the cloud. Rain began to fall on them. The small droplets of very slightly acidic water tipped onto them from the black static maws of the storm. The three trainers covered their heads and hear from the storm, using coat hoods, hoodie hoods, bags, jumpers, and anything else that would protect them. Ralph didn't have any of those, so he was unable to cover himself. The rain drops ran down his annoyed face as he was forced to put up with the storm above him. They continued on down the path, putting up with the bad weather that would only get worse. Because they were heading for its eye.

After ten more minutes of quick passed walking they came across a large, single acre large open area of woods. Trees circled around the small grassy part like a circumference. Above it the eye of the thunderstorm roared, lightning crashing down from it. But, what the group hadn't expected to see when they arrived, was a large and slightly flooded lake dead at its centre. The lake took up most of the space in the clearing. In fact the only actual area of stationary land was at the southern edge of the water, the small area that, as it also turned out, the whole town was standing, looking out onto the water.

"Well, what's going on here?" Joe wandered aloud. "There's a lake here."

"A lake?" Winter repeated.

"I didn't know about this." Silver muttered. "And I actually live in this region." They looked out on the stormy lake from the treeline, branches blocking their view a little.

"Whatever's going on must be interesting, otherwise the whole town wouldn't have come out here." Winter reasoned.

"You think we should go find out?" Joe asked her. She shrugged.

"I think we should at least check it all out." She explained. Silver huffed.

"Okay, but let's hurry up! I'm getting soaked!" He complained. They stepped out from under the trees and walked up to join the crowd. Around them there was heated chatter. Everyone from every age was up and about, all muttering to each other with curiosity and intrigue on their lips, with a mild dose of fear. The group slipped into the crowd and slowly pushed themselves to the front, moving aside elderly people, young kids, fearful adults and a wide variety of trainers, including gym ones by the look of some of their uniforms.

"Why are there so many people?" Winter muttered as she was nearly knocked over by a rather grumpy fat man. "Surely a storm can't be that interesting." Joe tried to shout a response back to her, but his voice was cut off by the striking of the lightning again. They heard a few whispers as they pushed through the throngs of trainers neared the front.

"Where did it come from?" One youngster asked his older brother.

"I don't know." The brother told him simply, his own face stunned.

"I've never seen one that colour before." Another, more professional looking trainer stated to his posse. The other ace trainers nodded in agreement.

"Must be some rare species we've never seen before." One told them. The posse nodded again.

"Do you suspect it's causing the storm?" One female trainer asked.

"It's possible." Her boyfriend said, looking almost slightly too cocky for his own good. "If they'd let me go out there and fight it I'd catch it myself!" He stated boldly. His girlfriend gave him googly eyes of admiration. Ralph shoved the trainer couple aside, allowing them to reach the very front, and look on out over the water. Joe got his breath back. Pushing through a mass of people was not so surprisingly tiring. Some people just refused to hear you no matter how loudly you shouted. He looked up again, and when his eyes spotted what was the staple of the large gathering, his mouth dropped like a 16 ton weight back to earth.

"What. Is. That?" He asked, looking at the centre of the lake. Winter and Silver joined him finally, spotted what he saw, and gasped as well.

There was indeed something on the lake, but it wasn't what they'd been expecting. It was a pokémon, that much was fact, but it was a very rare and very dangerous pokémon, one which shouldn't even exist in the first place. No one had ever seen something like this before, not even in the past had one been mentioned. There were some myths, but most of which had been forgotten or were so outlandish they were unbelievable. The monster on the lake thrashed around in the unclean rainy water, causing muck and mud from the basin to fly up and splatter the sky, its massive long tail causing massive wide tidal waves with every splash. Its constantly gaping fanged mouth roared and bellowed and breathed fire on the lake surface, causing the water to shimmer. Its tiny but wide open eyes glared at the area around it with blooded veins running through them as rage filled the creature's body. It rose up in a curved S shape from the water, its head to the stormy sky. The beast on the water was none other than a large, powerful, overgrown, legendary… red gyarados!

Joe looked on in aweing horror as the monster lashed around in the water. He had never seen anything so beautiful, yet so terrifying, before in his life. It was a monster of grace. Every spiralling turn it made was so agilely rage filled. Each roar was a roar of lonesome threat. Each blast of flame was a fire of rebellious anger. It was unnatural, but it was lost. As he watched the red gyarados turn in its tiny pool he began to realise that, above everything it was feeling, it was feeling alone.

"Look at that thing!" Silver gasped, taking a subconscious step away from the edge of the lake. "It's ginormous. That thing's a frigging dragon!"

Winter shook her head. "No. Gyarados aren't dragon types." She corrected him.

"Oh shut up!" Silver complained. "Don't you have anything more important to correct me on? Just look at that thing!" He threw his arms at the red demon of the lake. "Have you ever seen one of them before?"

"I've seen gyarados before." She told him. "But never a red one, nor one that big." She added. Gyarados, according their pokédex entry, were usually around 21 feet or 6.5 metres long from head to tail. This gyarados, being already a different colour to the normal blue water serpent pokémon, was an additional 6 feet taller than its relatives, reaching a humungous 27 feet tall or just over 8 metres tall. It was clear that the beast knew of its height, as it was using its menacing size as its main weapon, causing large waves to wash over the lake surface. The waves collided with the land and caused spray to fly up into the face of the viewers. The crowd backed away with surprise. Joe wiped the water from his eyes and continued to look on in amazement.

"Where did it even come from?" Joe asked. "It can't have just appeared."

"This is the lake of rage." One trainer next to him stated. "You see gyarados here all the time." He gulped. "Though I must admit I've never seen such a large one before, nor one that's red!" Joe looked at the trainer. He seemed afraid. They all did. The entire crowd seemed terrified by this thing. It was the kind of fear that a medieval village would have felt if the word 'witch' had just been cried. They looked ready to lynch something, probably the dragon that was causing problems on the water.

"Someone ought to get rid of it!" Someone cried from the crowd. A small cheer of agreement went up.

"Yeah." Another person agreed. "For all we know it's probably the one causing this storm. We don't want to have our homes flooded." There were more shouts of 'yeah' from the crowd. The people were starting to revolt. Joe looked at Winter.

"Surely they can't do that?" He asked. She nodded sadly.

"While I would normally agree that that thing shouldn't be harmed…" She told him. "It is the one causing this storm. And if it keeps thrashing around like that it's going to cause a lot of harm to the land around it. And then there's the danger of when it decided to turn on us." She looked at him. "It seems that this time there isn't much choice but to fight it." Joe looked solemn. He didn't like the thought of having to remove something new and clearly confused from its home. But, if it was putting other people in danger, it was probably for the best. Joe noticed in the corner of his eye someone move up next to him. He payed no notice to them.

"What are we waiting for then?" The cocky trainer stated loudly, roaring above the crowd. All eyes turned to him. He flexed his rather muscular arms. "Let's take this thing down!" He pointed a bulky finger at the red gyarados. No one cheered. They were all too afraid to join him. The cocky bulky trainer looked around at the people. "You cowards!" He muttered. "Very well! I'll take this thing down myself!"

"Vince, don't do it!" His girlfriend cried, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him back. Joe huffed. Of course he was called Vince! It was to macho for any normal person. "Don't go!" She cried, looking pleadingly into his face. Vince, the macho self-confident trainer, put his hand on her cheek.

"I must baby!" He stated. "It is my destiny." The girl began to cry.

"But Vince, I love you!" She cried, tears in her eyes. Vince smiled brashly.

"I know!" He stated. Joe rolled his eyes. What was this now? Some kind of crap soap opera? These two were directly out of a bad romance movie.

"Please god kill him!" He muttered rather cruelly under his breath.

The cocky trainer pushed his girlfriend away and reached for a pokeball. He whipped it out with overconfident suave and threw it out to the water. "Go, Mantine!" He cried. The pokeball opened up and released a large manta ray pokémon onto the water. It floated on the surface, its dark blue skin reflecting the shimmer of the water of its back. The trainer jumped onto his pokémon, readied himself into a surfing position, and commanded his pokémon forwards.

"Goodbye, my friends and fans!" He called back. Several members of the crowd cheered on in encouragement. Others looked away, dreading to see they young man get ripped apart.

"He doesn't stand a chance." Winter muttered. "What's he planning to fight that thing with? His fists?"

"It'll be amusing if he does do that." Silver told her with a dark smile.

As it turned out the trainer, Vince, didn't do that. He surfed across the water atop his flat ray pokémon, gaining speed and getting closer to the giant sea serpent. When he was within shouting range he raised his hands to his mouth and cried "Oi! Yeah you! The giant sea slug over there!" The red gyarados spun around to face him. The trainer smiled. He was doomed. "Yeah, that's right! I'm talking to you, you great red worm!" He waved his hands at the leviathan before him. The red gyarados glared at the tiny human morsel. The trainer smiled bravely, not having a single idea at how dead he was. He pointed a finger at the beast. "I'm gonna catch you!" He yelled. His roar echoed quietly around the lake. The red gyarados looked surprised at the small human. Then it lifted its head and roared itself. Its roar was ten times louder and a hundred times more threatening. When it opened its mouth it caused trees to shake. The trainer was staring to lose his nerve now. The red gyarados looked back down at him, lifted its tail, and swatted the lake. A tidal wave formed out of the powerful slap, washing itself over the surface of the water. The trainer was prepared for this however. "Move!" He instructed his pokémon. Mantine floated to the left and washed away from the huge tidal wave, being unharmed by the attack. The trainer pulled out a simple red pokeball. "Now I catch you!" He yelled. Then, like a kamikaze bomber, he threw the pokeball. It tapped against red gyrados's scaly skin and snapped open, sending out a red beam of light. But, to the trainer's astonishment, it did absolutely nothing. The red beam faded away, the pokeball snapped shut and then it fell, hitting the water with a light splash and sinking down into the deep. The trainer looked stunned at the lake. Then he glanced back up at the red gyarados. It was glaring at him again. It raised its tail again. This time, instead of trying to dodge the attack, the trainer called a few retreat. He turned his Mantine around, forcing it to swim back to shore as fast as he could. A terrified expression coated his rain covered face like the rage that filled red gyarados's soul. It swung its tail up from under the water and knocked the trainer and his pokémon high into the sky. The crowd gasped in terror as the young man was lifted up above the tree tops, then began to plummet again back towards the world. He and his Mantine landed with a large splash several metres away from the water's edge. They didn't reappear after twenty seconds.

Joe's expression was of personal shock and concern. His mouth was open slightly in a guilty stare. "God…" He muttered, looking up a little. "I wasn't being serious. I didn't want you to actually kill him!" Fortunately for Joe the young man and his pokémon weren't killed. They eventually rose up from the water again after a minute of being under, coughing and spluttering for air, their bodies bruised and wounded. A couple of other trainers, including the boy's girlfriend, went out to rescue him and bring him to sure. There was only one major problem now. Thanks to the cocky trainers actions the red gyarados now had its interests on the crowd. It roared again and looked down upon the humans. Light began to form in its giant mouth. The crowd didn't wait to find out what happened next. As a symbiont group they scattered, rushing away as individuals in a swarm from the lake of rage and its raging red gyarados. Only, Joe, Ralph, Winter, Silver and a few other braver trainers and some people who hadn't been paying attention were left standing at the edge of the water.

"I don't think we're going to ever stand a chance of beating that thing." Silver muttered, looking squarely terrified. Winter and Joe gave no response through body movement.

"It barely even moved!" Winter whispered amazed. "And it knocked them sky high!" Joe clenched his fists.

"There has to be a way to defeat it!" He exclaimed. "Or calm it at least. But how. If we can't catch it then what's the use. It won't calm down by itself, not at this rate."

"That's where the problem comes in." The man who had stepped up beside Joe said suddenly, making the boy jump. He turned and gave the trainer a confident stare. "You can catch it." He stated. Joe took a step away from him. Ralph gave the figure a suspicious gaze, the same he gave every person he didn't know.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Joe asked him to repeat himself. The man tilted his head down, his cloak rustling in the storm wind.

"I said, it _is_ possible for you to catch the red gyarados." He repeated, putting the comment in more detail. "It's just a matter of using the right pokeball." Joe gave the figure a suspicious glare.

"Who are you?" He asked. The figure smiled.

"My name's Lance." He stated simply. "And I used to own the position of power that one of your friends now holds in Kanto." He said in riddles. Joe gave him a more confused glare now.

"What?" He repeated. The man, Lance, sighed.

"Joe, how do you not know who Lance is?" Silver said from behind him. Joe turned to look back at his friends.

"No." He said simply. Silver game him a glare that would have been the equivalent of saying 'you are stupid!'.

"That's the champion, you moron!" He stated. Joe's jaw dropped slightly.

"What?" He asked, turning back to the Lance. "The champion?" He asked.

"Of Johto, yes." Lance told him, smiling at the fact the boy had finally realised who he was. "I used to be in the Kanto elite four, too. But then others came along." He stopped, almost going of trail. "But this is not about me today." He stated. "You want to calm that thing down, and I want to help." He stated. Joe and Ralph gave each other a quick glance. If this man was indeed the current Johto champion then having him as a team mate would prove to be a supreme advantage in any situation. But still, it seemed odd that he was here, at this point, on this day, for this event. But Joe wasn't going to worry about now. He nodded his head.

"Okay." He said. "So what did you have in mind?"

Lance smiled and reached into his pockets. When he pulled his hand back out he was holding a small but heavy looking black and yellow pokeball. "This may look like a simple ultra-ball." He stated. "But it isn't. It's a prototype. A combination. Like the one your partner here owns." Joe looked at him.

"How do you know about that?" He asked.

"I know Professor Oak and Elm." Lance told him. "They told me of you, and your story. That's why I'm asking you to help me." He looked back at his pokeball. "This is a tranquil ball" He stated simply. "It's used to catch very powerful and very angry pokémon. I know it's not an imaginative name, but it describes its job perfectly." Joe looked back at Lance.

"And how did you make this new pokeball?" He asked. Lance tapped his nose.

"A few tech friends." He stated. "They've worked on a couple of things you may have seen. Like the Silph scope, or your shield." Joe looked at his wrist and was about to ask how Lance knew of it, when he remembered Professor Oak probably knew of it and had told him. "They put this together for me. It should allow us to catch that gyarados and calm it down. Then this tiny crisis will be over."

"Tiny!" Silver cried from behind them. "Have you even looked at that thing? It's god size!" Lance gave the redhead boy a glance, then ignored him.

"Just trust me." He stated. "If we work together we can fix this problem. Do you trust me?" Joe looked around. He needed to think.

"This is all rather sudden." He stated over the roar of the storm. "How did you know what was going on here? How do you know how to solve it?" He asked. Lance looked at him.

"There will be time to explain all that later." Lance told him sternly. "I promise. But right now I need you to trust me, please." He gave Joe an honest stare of confidence. "Do you trust me, Mr. Glende?" He asked again. Joe gulped. He must be mad to agree to this. He was going to die for sure. Joe took the champion's hand and shook it determinedly.

"I trust you!" He stated.

Lance gave him an approving grin. "Good." He stated. He shook Joe's hand firmly. "Then let's get flying!" He let go of Joe's arm and reached a hand to his pokeball belt. Joe looked at him.

"What?" He asked. Lance unclipped a pokeball and released it. "Go, dragonite!" He commanded. The pokeball snapped open and released a rather young looking but still strong large orange dragon pokémon. Dragonite looked back at its trainer with an obedient gaze. Lance patted his pokémon on the shoulder, its small wings fluttering on the back of its large body.

"I said we're going to attack the thing from the air." Lance repeated, putting his comment in more detail. Joe looked concerned by this. He glanced his eyes to the sky, then back to the grounded trainer.

"In this weather?" He stated. Lance grinned.

"Not scared, are you?" He asked in an almost taunting manner. "Don't worry. The lightning isn't likely to hit you. And if you think it will then dodge aside."

"That's very helpful advice." Joe said dryly. Lance wrapped his arm around Dragonite's shoulder and pulled himself up onto its back.

"Just keep an eye above and an eye bellow, then you should do fine." He explained. Then he tapped Dragonite with his heels and the two of them took off into the air. Dragonite was like a large scaly reptilian bumblebee. It shouldn't have been able to take off, let alone fly with such small wings, yet somehow it was and it didn't seem to care any less about it. Joe watched the champion take off. He looked back to his two friends, who seemed a little concerned.

"I'll try and get this done quick." He told them.

"For the love of Arceus don't die!" Winter told him, almost mothering. Joe smiled weakly at her.

"I can't make any promises." He told her. Winter smiled back.

"Be careful up there, dude." Silver told him, giving him a short concerned wave of the hand. Joe nodded back to him.

"I will." He said. He turned around, facing his crobat companion. "Are you ready to go?" He asked. Ralph nodded. Joe smiled at him. "Then let's get up there, buddy." Joe walked around Ralph's side, swung his leg over his back and slowly sat himself onto Ralph's spine. The crobat flinched slightly as he always did, but he quickly got used to the boys weight. Then, when they were ready, they took off, moving with a burst of speed into the sky.

* * *

They joined Lance and Dragonite several metres up above the water, looking down at the wrathful dragon thrashing around bellow them. The Red Gyarados was getting more furious now. It was breathing fire on the water, but slowly moving towards the land. If it get there who knew what kind of damage it would to do the trees and the habitat. It had to be stopped before it could get that far.

"Are you ready to do this?" Lance called over the storm. Joe nodded to him. He was as ready as he could be. Ralph grunted too, rain pouring down his face uncomfortable. Lance smiled at them. "Okay." He turned around on Dragonite's back and looked back down at the red gyarados. "We need to bring it down before it can harm anyone or anything else." Lance stated, bringing his plan up right now. "Here's what we're going to do." He stated. "First we need to get it to focus on us. So you need to get its attention away from everyone else and onto you. Then, when you've done that, I'll start attacking to lower its energy. Once it's weak enough you need to find a way onto its back. Then use the serene ball on its head. Do you understand?"

"Not really!" Joe shouted back. "Why am I the bait?"

"Because Ralph is faster than Dragonite." Lance explained. "You can dodge its attacks better. Now, are you ready?"

"Why do I have to use the ball on its head?" Joe asked further. Lance huffed annoyed.

"Because it's a bigger and easier target then its abdominal fin!" He stated. "Now! Are. You. Ready?"

"No!" Joe called back. Lance smiled.

"Let's go get this thing!" He roared. Dragonite reared up, gave a short call of excitement, then dived down towards the land again, Lance gripping it tight but never looking moved by the rush of wind on his body and face. Joe watched as they dived. Then he patted Ralph's back.

"We'd better get after them." He sighed. Ralph grunted in agreement. The human and crobat dived down after them, flying towards the water. Before they could hit Ralph made a sharp turn up and they flew just above the water's surface like an escapee fish that had caught a hurricane wind. Red Gyarados was coming up quickly, still not having noticed them. Lance held back, watching the scene and waiting for his chance to strike. "Are you ready, Ralph?" Joe asked. Ralph nodded. Joe smiled. "Okay." He said, a little nervously. "Let's grab this things attention." He pointed at red gyarados. "Circle around it at eye level." He instructed. Ralph did as he was instructed. The purple bat flew past red gyarados, rose up in the air as he spiralled around and flew past its face.

The red gyarados blinked in confusion. It could have sworn it saw something pass by its face. It quickly took this as a mistake. It was about to continue thrashing again, when the flash of purple went by once more. It looked around. What had that been? Again it passed by, but this time as it had stayed in its peripheral vision for longer. It was a crobat. And on that crobat's back was a smaller young human. The human was waving his arms taunting above his head at the red gyarados. Faintly it heard a shout as the two passed by again.

"Come on, you giant water snake!" Joe cried as he and Ralph flew past the dragons head a third time. "Come get me!" Gyarados glared at the two of them, slightly confused and slightly amused, before roaring loudly again. It turned in a coil and began swimming towards the two bothersome fly sized pests. Joe smiled. He had its attention now. He just had to make sure that it didn't hit them out of the sky. "Let's get moving, Ralph!" He stated quickly. Ralph turned and flew right, just as the red gyarados fired a blast of flame at where they had been. The purple and yellow dragon embers fell and expired on the water. Gyarados crashed across the lake, following after the purple flicked that was trying to fly away from it. Joe glanced back at the dragon. "It's still following us." He said, sounding glad about such a concerning thing. "Keep ahead of it. See if we can drag it back to the centre." Ralph grunted and sped up, red gyarados catching up slowly with a gentle gain of speed. Ralph slowed up so the beast could reach them, but this was a dangerous move. If it decided to attack again it would have a higher chance of hitting them.

Red gyarados swam across the surface and reared back slightly, light forming in its mouth. It was about to fire a hyper beam. Then, right before it could do so, a massive lightning bolt struck it on the side of the head. The red gyarados collapsed onto its side, sinking down under the water with a swift wriggling turn. Joe looked up at where the attack had come from. Dragonite was floating high above them, almost in the main cloud of the storm, static sparking from its arms and mouth. Lance was looking over the side, waving unconcernedly at him.

"That did it!" He called over the ruckus of thunder. "Keep it tailing you! I'll continue to strike it down!" Joe saluted quickly back as a confirmation of agreement.

"Will do!" He shouted back up. Lance nodded and Dragonite flew away, circling back around to prepare for another attack. Joe looked into the water. The red gyarados hadn't surfaced again yet, but it would soon. He could so ripples and bubbles forming up underneath them. "Let's move, Ralph." Joe commanded. Ralph nodded in understanding. He darted forwards with a short burst of speed, just as the red gyarados reappeared from the water, breaching the surface and shooting upwards in a straight line like a scaly arrow. It reached the level its pray was at and opened its mouth wide, fangs covered in ice, snapping it shut sharply on thin air. Joe and Ralph had safely moved out of its way just in time. The icy teeth barely nicked Ralph's back wing. Then it fell away again, landing back into the deep with a heavy titanic splash. It disappeared under the surface, ripples and bubbles the only thing revealing where it had been. Joe and Ralph looked down at the lake, faces stunned. "That was too close." Joe muttered. Ralph looked back at him, his eyes agreeing completely. Joe glanced up at the champion circling above him. "Lance, that thing knows Ice Fang!" He called.

"Then be careful about where it bites you!" Lance called back. Joe rolled his eyes. That was very helpful information. How was he meant to be careful of where it bit him? He was the same size as its mouth. Joe turned back to the lake. Red Gyarados had surfaced again, except this time it sat coiled up on the water, preparing a ranged attack.

"Back down we go." Joe muttered. Ralph dived slowly, losing height till they were back down at face level with the deep water beast. Red gyarados gave them a fearsome glare of hatred. Joe returned it with a determined stare of courage. Ralph however just looked tired and fed up and that he wanted a good long rest as soon as possible. Red gyarados continued to glare at them. Then it opened its mouth and formed a large sphere of energy. "Attack!" Joe commanded. Ralph flew straight at the beast, wings folding in and moving at incredible speed. Red gyarados followed his trajectory, aiming to hit the bothersome bat from the air before he could hit it. The light formed into a point, projecting a beam from out his throat. The spear of energy flew out from Gyarados's open maw in a multitude of colours, shooting like the light of the sun across the stormy terrain. But Ralph was fast, and he was agile. He had the speed to dodge such an attack. With one quick movement, and warning Joe before hands, Ralph spun over, flying upside down and dropping down in the air. He flew belly up, his stomach being scorched by the heat coming of the beam, but avoiding the attack for a few seconds. This tactic had come as a surprise to the giant dragon, but it didn't remained so for long. Gyarados moved the attack lower, following Ralph as he dived upside down towards the titan before him. "Pull up!" Joe instructed. Ralph stopped, rotating in mid-air and turning back onto his front. A second later the hyper beam struck the water directly in front of them. The impact wave struck up and splashed them in the face, covering the duo in murky lake water. The hyper beam faded away again, leaving the lake steaming with heat in its wake. But now gyarados was left open for attack, the move having left it exhausted and needing a rest afterwards. "Now's our chance, Ralph!" Joe told him. "Strike it while its out!" Ralph squinted his eyes, searching for the best place to strike it. Eventually he decided on its neck, a small spot just between its middle body and its head which, if he hit it with enough force, would most likely wind the beast. The man sized crobat sped forwards, preparing to ram himself fully into the beasts throat. Joe held on for dear life, knowing what Ralph was doing but trusting his pokémon not to do anything too stupid.

Ralph sped like a purple rocket with no flaming tail towards overgrown red sea serpent, wings folded in and Joe tucked in on his back. Gyarados followed his trajectory, aiming to swing its tail up and swat him away again. Its mighty white finned tail swung up from under the water, flying to the sky like a massive fly swatter.

"Look out!" Joe cried, spotting the attack coming towards them from bellow. Ralph saw it too. He rolled aside in mid trajectory, avoiding the edge of the attack just barely as red gyarados's tail swatted thin air and kept going up. Ralph kept going, unhindered by its foe's attempts to stop him. He sped up, found his wings in further, picked his target and reached it.

Ralph impacted face first into red gyarados's throat, causing its scale covered skin to recoil with the force. To everyone watching's stunned amazement the attack was so powerful it knocked the pokémon over. Red Gyarados recoiled forwards, the strike pushing its body back but its head forwards. Then it shot back across the water, Ralph's surprising strength propelling it limply over the surface like a worm lure on a fishing rod. It eventually stopped again, striking the edge of the lake and crumpling up weakly and out of breath. By that time Ralph had let go, pulling back so he wasn't dragged down and crushed by its massive body. They looked down at the toppled monster. It was groaning and wheezing, struggling for breath as its massive jaws opened and shut. It lay with half its body beached, the other half waterborne. Joe patted Ralph on the head.

"Good job, buddy." He said kindly. "We did it." Ralph smiled back, glad that his trainer appreciated his efforts. They lowered down towards the gyarados's head, ready to finish this fight with the pokeball Lance had given him. "This shouldn't take long." Joe said.

But as they approached the dragon it stirred again. When Joe and Ralph were too close to react in time it rose up suddenly, moving in a swift coil till they were at eye level. It roared in their faces, releasing a horrible blast of foul fish smelling breath. Joe and Ralph attempted to dart back, but it was too fast. The red gyarados lunged, fangs bared, about to swallow them whole. Only the fires of rage sat behind its eyes.

But suddenly the beast flinched. Its body began to spark and flicker with yellow light. There was a loud thunder clap, and something sharp, jagged yellow and huge struck its back. Joe and Ralph glanced up. Lance was above them, Dragonite still carrying him, electricity flying from its arms and mouth.

"That should stop it!" Lance shouted down. "Now quick, use the serene ball before it recovers!" Joe didn't wait a second longer to think. He pulled out the small deep black ball Lance had given him, his fingers fumbling with stress as he took it out, and prepared to throw it. He took aim at gyarados's head, preparing to throw. The beast was still sparking, but it had enough self-control to let out another disgusting roar of rage. Joe hurled the serene ball at it. The small black pokeball rolled through the air, sailed up, fell back down and struck gyarados's lower right fang. The ball snapped open, fired its red laser projectile, engulfed red gyarados's paralysed body in it, then withdrew the beam and snapped shut. The pokeball fell away into the empty space the pokémon had been in, striking the water with a light splash and floated up onto its surface. Joe and Ralph gave a simultaneous sigh of relief. It was over. They had captured the red gyarados.

They returned to the lake side where Winter and Rocky had been watching from, exhausted from their battle. They had made sure first to collect the pokeball from the water, not wanting to leave that poor creature trapped underwater in a pokeball it couldn't get out from. They had decided to bring it back to land. Above them the storm had subsided, fading away as its creator had disappeared before. Joe jumped of Ralph's back and stepped back onto the solid unmoving ground, feeling a little motion sick. Looking down at rippling water while flying had odd effects on the human body. He was hoping he wouldn't have to do it again. He still hadn't truly gotten over his fear of heights. Lance landed beside them, deciding to jump from Dragonite's back before it finished landing. The large orange dragon landed beside him. Lance smiled gratefully at the trainers.

"Thank you for your help today." He said with a big grin. "That could have been a very bad situation for everyone." Joe nodded back.

"It's fine." He told him. "I'm just glad we managed to stop it." Joe looked at the pokeball in his hands. "I suppose you'll be wanting to take this with you." Joe said, holding it out to the champion. Lance looked at it, then back at the trainer.

"No, not really." He said. Joe looked confused.

"No?" He repeated, not sure what Lance was doing. "I thought you wanted to catch this thing?"

"I wanted to calm it." He explained. "And we did. But you caught it, so it is yours." Joe looked back, both amazed and shocked.

"But it's your pokeball." He argued.

"Which I gave to you." Lance reminded him. "Keep that gyarados. Think of it as a thank you present." He smiled wisely. "Besides, I already have a gyarados. I don't need two. You should do just fine taking care of her now. That serene ball will keep her at a controllable level of calm."

"Her?" Joe asked. Lance nodded.

"It's time for me to go." He stated. "Thank you for your help today. You may have saved countless lives." Lance stepped back, put his arm back around dragonite and then lifted himself up onto its back. "Good luck on your travels, you four." He called as Dragonite rose back up into the air on its four tiny wings. Then they were away, flying off into the distance.

Joe turned back around to face his friends. They were smiling at him.

"I can't believe you actually caught that thing?" Silver muttered. Joe gave him a small smile back.

"Neither can I really." He told him. "But I did." He showed him the occupied pokeball as proof.

"Looked like it was going to swallow you whole at that one point." Winter told him.

"But it didn't." Joe said back, smiling. "Now, I say we head back to town and grab something to eat. I'm starving." Silver whooped in agreement.

"Finally!" He shouted. "We get to eat." They headed off again, walking alongside each other as a group.

"What are you going to name her?" Winter asked. Joe looked o his friend, then back at the pokeball.

"Well, since she was such a storm to deal with…" He said simply. "I was thinking… Cyclone. What do you think?" He asked. Winter smiled back with a nod.

"I like it." She told him. "It's suiting." Joe smiled back.

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

* * *

"You're what?" Crystal exclaimed, her face stunned.

"Shhh!" Danning hissed. "Not so loud. You don't know who's listening in."

"Yeah, but…" Crystal muttered. Danning looked solemn.

"I know how this must sound to you." He said quietly. "But keep in mind I never intended for you to get involved."

"Forget that." Crystal muttered. "You never even considered what the leader would do to you if he found out, did you." Danning held his head grimly.

"I did." He told her. "But this isn't about me or you. This is about something bigger. Besides, I never liked it here."

Crystal looked at him, concern and fear for the man showing on her face. "But what if Archer finds out that you…"

"He wont." Danning told her. "I'm leaving tonight. My work is done. I've been in Team Rocket for too long. It's time I left. I've already gotten packed and I have a plan to escape." He looked back up at her. "I'm not going to stand around and let them hurt young girls anymore." Crystal looked at him.

"You're still hung up on that?" She asked. "Danning, that was days ago. I've healed up from that."

"Your body has." He agreed. "But your heart and your head haven't. They've damaged you in ways you may not even see. You may never even realise what they've done to you, to everyone under them." He told her. "They've shattered your innocence like a cheap bottle of booze." He stated, a little louder then he probably should have. He stood up from his seat. "Well I'm not going to let that happen to anyone else. I've had enough of crime." He grabbed his hat off his head and threw it across the dorm room. "I'm leaving. You can't make me stay. Trust me Crystal when I say it's for the best." Crystal sighed. She knew he was right. Being in Team Rocked had changed her for the worse. But if Danning tried to leave then...

"If you go…" She told him. "Archer will find you again… and he'll make an 'example' of you." A small tear formed under her eye. "I can't let you get hurt for my sake, Danning." She told him. "You're my only friend." Danning took the girls hand.

"I know." He told her. "But this is bigger than either of us. I have to leave now. If I do then I might be able to inform someone of what Archer plans. I may be able to stop it."

"He'll find out!" Crystal cried. "He always does."

"I know." Danning said. "But I have to try. I'm leaving tonight. I might manage to get away in the dark. But if I don't…" He looked up into the girls eyes. "Crystal. I need you to promise me something." He said.

"O-okay." The young teen sobbed. Danning gave her a confirming stare.

"No matter what happens to me, you tell them nothing of what I said." He told. "Not for my sake, but for everyone else's. For the sake of those out to stop Archer. You must never speak of what I told you. No matter how much they torture you, no matter how much they beat you, you must never make it clear you know of their plan." He told her firmly. "Or else you may end up like me." He took her hands in his. "Do you understand?" He asked.

"I…" Crystal muttered, tears chocking her. "I understand." She managed to say. Danning smiled at her.

"Good." He stood up again. "You should get going before someone wonders where you are or before they find us in here." He said. He gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry about me. This hell will all be over soon enough."

"Goodbye, Danning." She sobbed. "I hope you make it out okay." Danning nodded.

"So do I." He muttered quietly in farewell.

Crystal stepped out through the doorway and closed it, sobbing still. And from the shadows behind her a fat hand grabbed her shoulder.


	26. Chapter 26: Pryce: Heart of Ice

**Quick Warning: The end section of this chapter gets pretty violent and cruel, so if you don't like that stuff I'd recommend you skip it. It is pretty important to the story, however, so if you can handle violence to animals I'd suggest you do read it.**

* * *

Exhaustion was the pinnacle point of their day so far. Considering everything that happened to them to cause it, a long and comfortable rest was the reward for such travel. Unfortunately Joe and his friends would have to wait a bit longer for such a payment. They still had to return to the town, and then there was its gym leader to fight. Pryce was an old man, but not a weak man. He wasn't the region's seventh gym leader, its second strongest, for a reason. Apparently he'd even been at the lake during the fight, but had gotten bored after a few seconds and left again. Joe hadn't spotted him. Then again he didn't know what the gym leader looked like. They walked back in the clearing up rain, heading back to Mahogany town.

When they finally got back they found the town had picked up a new feeling to it. It was still melancholy in style, but now it was livelier as the people were all moving about. Most of them were standing about, chatting about the incident at the Lake of Rage and being thankful to have not been burned alive. Stores were open, restaurants and coffee shops had opened their doors, small stall merchants had untethered their carts from whatever transport they'd bought with them. Joe, Silver, Winter and Ralph ignored them all. It was a quick stop by the pokémon centre, then to the gym for a hard work out.

* * *

Joe stepped up to the glass doors, which slid wide for him to walk through. We walked in, Ralph following behind and Winter and Silver behind him. The second they entered they were bit by a chilling cold coming out of nowhere. The coolers must have been on full blast, and turned up to minus eleven somehow. There were arctic tundra's warmer than this place. The pulled up their jumpers and coats and continued in. The floor was as slippery as ice, and in some parts it literally was ice. The ground shone in the bright lights, reflecting the glace of the frozen water under their feet. The team had to watch where they stood, and step lightly. Past all this ice, all the frozen air that the fans could pump out, stood an elderly man with a thin stature and barely anything on. He stood near a frozen wall of ice, a walking cane made of tough frost in his left hand, wearing nothing but a short sleeved collared striped shirt and a pair of thin aging shorts. As he heard the slipping of inexperienced feet, he turned on his toes, his dry slippers keeping him in place. His face was wrinkled with age and experience, his hair short, white and parting, frost flecks building up in its tangled net. He tapped the walking cane on the ice floor and glared down the visitors.

"And so, more trainers turn up to battle yet again." He muttered. He held his arms out in false welcome. "I would expect no less, not least from the child that could quell an enraged gyarados." Joe gave the cold man an open look.

"I assume you were there to see that battle?" He asked.

"At the lake of rage." The elderly man told him. "I was indeed there. You strategize your battles well…" He stated. "For a boy."

"I've had a lot of experience." Joe told him.

"Indeed." The elder scrapped his cane across the frozen floor, causing specs to flick up and a line to form before his feet. "But enough formalities." He stated loudly. "You came to battle a gym leader, so battle we shall. I am Pryce, the gym leader of Mahogany town." He tapped his cane slightly. "And I use ice type pokémon." Winter seemed to warm up a little at those words. Someone who had followed the same dream as her. A small smile crept up on her face. Joe glanced back to Pryce.

"It's nice to meet you." He said warmly.

"There will be no need for politeness." Pryce replied coldly. "I do not plan to talk long." He stepped up to Joe, standing opposite faced. "Some call me a no-nonsense master of snow. Others call me a frozen hearted old man." He looked at the boy. "But first impressions are usually the most honest. What do you see when you look upon me?" Joe looked at the elder before him.

"I see a stubborn old man…" Joe said. "With a hint of experience and power behind him." Pryce raised his eyebrows at him.

"That kind of fiery attitude won't serve you well in here." He stated. "A rash child like you won't stand seconds against me." Joe's mouth fell a little.

"So that's your answer to me?" He asked. "You're just turning me away because I'm a kid?"

"An arrogant kid." Pryce corrected him. Joe scoffed.

"You've clearly never met Silver then." He stated.

"Hey!" Silver snapped from his seat on the side. Pryce gave Joe an icy glance.

"While you seem to be right about your friend…" Pryce told him quietly. "I think you may be missing the point. I was referring to your willingness to just walk in here and upright challenge me of the bat, without thinking of what I may be doing at the time."

"Why is everyone picking on me?" Silver could be heard muttering from his seat. Winter nudged him quiet again.

"To be fair I didn't know you were…" Joe tried to say.

"Were what?" Pryce interrupted. Joe went to say something, but he quickly stopped himself. Whatever it was it probably wasn't worth saying. Pryce shook his head. "Your tongue is quicker than your brain is." He muttered disappointedly. "You act too righteous for your own good, and speak without thinking of the effect it may have on others. You need to take second to look back on yourself, and reflect how you treat your elders." Joe felt an erg to say something rather spiteful, but Pryce's glare was annoyingly stern. He was right. What was Joe supposed to respond with? After that question? He couldn't be rude. That wouldn't end well. He couldn't be demanding either. Pryce was an old man, but a wise man as well. He wouldn't respond well if Joe aggravated him. He was testing him. He was seeing how he would respond to confliction of opinion. And so Joe had to find a way around it. He'd have to be straightforward, but humble.

"Okay." Joe said quietly. "So why will you not battle me?" He asked. Pryce looked back at him, pleased by his less aggravating tone, but still looking stern about his challenge.

"Because you are a boy." He stated simply. "You couldn't beat me."

"Let me at least try." Joe asked him. Pryce shook his head.

"No." He said again. "I have no time for children. I am a tired old man."

"Then maybe a decent battle would give you more energy." Joe suggested. A small smile appeared at the side of his mouth.

"You make a valid point." He said. "But how would I know this battle isn't going to end after three seconds?" Joe grinned at him.

"Would I be here to challenge you right now if I hadn't beaten your previous six colleagues?" Joe reminded him. "And, if you really need more proof, me, and my friends, are battling Team Rocket… and we're winning." Pryce looked Joe in the eyes. No emotions showed up on his face. But as he stared his smile grew a little larger.

The elderly man turned around fully and stepped forwards. Then he flicked his can up into the air where it clattered aside, away from the battlefield. "Alright, boy…" Pryce finally agreed. "You've convinced me. I accept your challenge." Joe smiled and bowed to the more experienced elder.

"Thank you." He said kindly. "I'll go easy on you." Pryce laughed at him.

"I wouldn't." He stated. "I'm not just some old man. I wouldn't put your trust in any old fire type, boy. They won't get you through this." The elderly gym leader clapped his hands together, forming sound waves to bounce off the frost filled air. "Well then. Enough talk. I've been looking forward to a decent battle." He cracked his old fingers. "But don't say I never warned you."

* * *

Joe hadn't expected to battle an old man that day, but what he expected was currently proving to not be the truth. He had expected the trip through Mt Mortar to be easy. Instead they'd been cut off in a rock fall. They'd expected the storm over Lake of Rage to be just a storm. Instead it was a giant red gyarados on the rampage. He'd expected Pryce to be a fit adult man. Instead he was a frozen elder. And the last thing he had expected after that was for him to prove to be tough. Joe assumed his comments to be an attempt at showing off, or looking tougher then he was. Instead it was very much the truth. Pryce was not being humble, or cocky. Pryce unclipped a pokeball with a swift movement of his old wrinkled hands. He gripped it between his fingers, his arm out, preparing to release it at will. Joe however took his time getting his pokeball out. He reached his hand slowly to his belt, unclipped his ball of choice and held in between his fingers, his arms down at his side. The two of them were playing Mexican stand of with their pokeballs. Whoever threw first would start this fight. It was a whole minute before either of them did so. Eventually Joe went first, realising the Pryce was playing it calmly and letting his opponent make the first move. Joe threw the pokeball and sent his pokémon out.

"Go, Cyclone!" He called. The black serene pokeball flew out from his hand with a swift flick and landed on the ice covered battlefield. From it erupted the titanic crimson skinned gyarados he had caught only an hour ago. The red gyarados… Cyclone, crashed itself onto the ice, causing the floor to crack and water to flood out from it. The ice became a small skating field within the span of a few seconds. And Pryce laughed.

"You're sending that out in here?" He asked, chuckling still. "Be my guest, but you know it'll just break the ground, rather than defeat any of my pokémon." Joe tilted his head.

"Just send out yours, gramps." He muttered. Pryce prepared his pokeball.

"Alright." He shouted. "If you insist." He pulled his arm back slowly and threw it at the waterlogged ice covered field. "Go, Seel!" He called. The pokeball popped open and released a small white furred seal pokémon onto the watery ice field. It sat on the ice floats, its dumb, large toothed mouth hanging open in a smile. On its head sat a small spike, probably used for breaking ice above when it swims. The pile of blubber bubbled and babbled for a second, then noticed the giant before it. Cyclone looked down on the small seal, and thought of lunch. "I'll let you make the first move." Pryce decided.

Joe bowed his respect and commanded Cyclone first. "Ice Fang!" He called. Cyclone sat leering down at the tiny opponent. Then she lunged, mouth wide and teeth first.

"Aurora Beam!" Pryce commanded. Seel focused a multi-coloured ring of energy from its horned forehead. Then the ring shrunk and extended into a spiralling beam of yellow, pink, green, blue and purple. The ice attack struck Cyclone in the mouth, shattering the frost shielding forming around her teeth. But it didn't stop her. In fact it barely hurt her. Cyclone kept up her attack. Her head smashed into the ice, cracking it and causing splinters of frozen water to fly upwards around her. Seel was flung backwards by the force of the attack, Cyclone's tail hitting him again as she dived into the water under the battlefield. She rose back up out of it, her head and upper body poking back through the hole she had made. Apparently there wasn't much water under there. Cyclone was practically lying on her belly to stop herself from breaking everything. Joe was currently rather surprised. Lance had told him that the serene ball would supress Cyclone's inner rage, but apparently rage wasn't the same as physical brutality and strength. It seemed to only stop her going mad and causing a rampage. While that was useful, he'd hoped it would also stop her from destroying the inside of a gym. Pryce seemed quite amused by all that was currently going on.

"Cyclone…" Joe muttered. "You didn't need to break the floor open." Cyclone barely acknowledged he'd said anything. She just sat there, a watery watcher over the opponent's side. Pryce smirked.

"When I realised you were set in mind to catch that thing earlier today…" He stated. "I had no idea you would actually do it! But here you are… with a giant on your side." He looked at the cracked battlefield. "A giant that likes to make its own space." He added. Joe wasn't sure to be smug or offended. In the end he was both. He made a new command.

"Waterfall!" He called. Cyclone dived under slightly then jumped upwards, cracking the ice around her and flying full bodied out of the water. Then, when she was almost touching the ceiling, she turned around in mid-air and dived downwards again, towards the hapless Seel. The impact drove another hole into the ice. Seconds later Seel splashed up from the thin water, coughing and looking beaten and weak. Cyclone hadn't risen up yet. She seemed to be buying her time, scaring her prey rather than destroying it instantly. Pryce seemed concerned, but not terribly. He was not planning to give up just yet.

"Wait for it." He commanded calmly. Seel dragged itself back to land and rested on the ice for a few seconds, waiting for the red water terror to reappear. A few seconds later Cyclone's tiny head rose up from the water, her eyes poking up just above the surface. She gave Seel a hungry yet frozen and emotionless stare. Then she rose up out of the water, leaning higher above the tiny seal pokémon till half her body was above the water. "Growl." Pryce instructed. Seel put on a brave face and, as the red giant loomed over it, gave out a fierce and defensive growl. Cyclone stopped in mid attack. She had faintly heard the smaller pokémon attempt a threat, but she had still heard it. In response she gave it an amused yet also rather befuddled unkind laugh. Pryce's expression never changed. Cyclone, now finding the attack less amusing, decided to finish the tiny white mammal off. She towered down to its level and prepared to burn it alive. "Headbutt." Pryce instructed calmly. Seel slid across the remaining pieces of ice as Cyclone prepared her attack, then struck her chin with its horned forehead. Cyclone recoiled slightly in surprise, then looked at Seel with a stunned face. She hadn't expected it to attempt anything like that, so the fact it had left the red gyarados rather surprised. That surprise quickly changed to annoyance as Cyclone's expression went from open eyed shock to narrow browed irritation. Cyclone headbutted Seel back. The much smaller pokémon was kicked across the field again, this time hitting the back wall with a nasty impact.

"Cyclone, stop!" Joe instructed quickly. But it seemed the dragon didn't listen to him. Cyclone closed her mouth, small blue flames flickering from the sides. Then she exhaled, firing the plume of dragon fire across the field in embers and sparks. It struck Seel. It also struck the area around Seel. It also struck the field in front of Seel. It also struck the whole room. Joe looked at the flickering aftermath. The whole battlefield had been melted away in one swift attack. It was impressive. It was also a major mistake. With no floor, how would any of Joe's other pokémon be able to battle? By the way Cyclone was going he'd have to call her back just to stop her ripping the roof off. She'd even manages to break the results board on the side of the field. She'd covered it with water upon breaking the ice, and now the screen was sparking wildly, displaying many randomly placed numbers mostly consisting of ones and zeros. No one could tell what it was saying anymore. It was practically useless now. Pryce withdrew Seel. Joe hadn't been able to see the state it was in, but by the look of Pryce's face it hadn't been good. Hopefully Cyclone hadn't killed it accidentally. Cyclone actually seemed quite pleased with the mess she had made. Pryce was not.

"You lack control of your dragon." He stated simply. Joe rubbed the back of his head.

"S-sorry" He muttered. Pryce sighed.

"From now on would you remove her from battle, please? I don't want to have to keep rebuilding my gym." He asked. Joe nodded awkwardly.

"No problem." He said, feeling a little guilty. "Back you come, Cyclone." He muttered, holding out the serene ball and withdrawing Cyclone again. She gave Joe a sad look as she went, an expression Joe didn't know Gyarados could make, but apparently they could. He put her pokeball away. Two pokémon left to pick from. Pryce was also down one, but who knew what else he had on his team. It was likely that Seel was his weakest, and he'd sent it out as a tester to see if Joe really was ready to battle him. Pryce was certainly giving him a rather emotionless stare.

"I wouldn't get to confident about winning after that fight." Pryce told him. "My other pokémon aren't that weak, and if your pokémon are anything like the last one they won't stand a chance at fighting them." He tapped his foot on the small area of ice left where he stood. Another pokeball appeared in his hand within a second, and again without any movement. "But still. You might get lucky twice." He flicked the pokeball up into the air, and let it fall towards the water. "Go, Dewgong!" He called. The pokeball opened and a much bigger, sleeker evolution of Seel appeared on the water surface. It sang a song of awakening and attempted victory itself, before splashing its tail a bit and readying t fight. Joe simply pulled out his next pokeball and released it onto the ground in front of him.

"Go, Pippy." He called. The ball opened and his faithful little pikachu popped out to fight for him. Joe was lucky that Cyclone's attacks hadn't damaged too much of the ice before him, otherwise Pippy would literally have nowhere to stand at this point. The small pikachu crawled his way cautiously across the ice floor, being careful not to slip and fall into the cold water. His tiny feet had no grip, so he had to dig what claws he had into the floor to stop him skidding. Pryce seemed amused.

"Electric types won't do you much good either." He said simply. He threw his mounting hand out. "Ice Beam!" He instructed. A small point of cyan blue frosted up inside Dewgongs open mouth.

"Look Out!" Joe called. Pippy jumped aside and skidded across the ice, attempting to avoid the incoming attack. But, to their surprise, when Dewgong fired it intentionally missed. Instead Dewgong had pointed the beam at the water in front of it, and moved it in a swipe. The attack had refrozen the surface of the water for eight feet in front of it, giving it more land to attack from. Joe was confused by this action. Why would Dewgong need more land? It's a water type. It can swim. Pryce looked back at him and smiled.

"Now, ice beam his pokémon." He instructed. Dewgong looked back up, saw Pippy and focused his aim again, creating another ice beam. Joe quickly glanced down at Pippy. The small yellow mouse was struggling to stand up, the ice under him proving to slippery to stand up on. Dewgong was already making its attack. Joe had to come up with a plan quick. He looked over the destroyed stadium, then gave his instructions.

"Pippy, I need you to run and jump into the water." Pippy looked at him, confused fear freezing on his face. "Just trust me." Joe told him confidently. "Now, do it quick." Pippy managed to get his grip back on the ice, and prepared to run. Dewgong was still aiming at him. The attack was imminent. Then Pippy ran. He propelled himself across the ice, skidding mostly on its surface, but moving his legs enough to keep him up and keep him going. Dewgong fired, and Pippy jumped. The pikachu launched himself off the ice and sailed low over the air for a few seconds. Meanwhile Dewgongs ice beam attack hit where it had assumed Pippy would be, several inches in front of the ice. Its ice beam hit the cold water, freezing it up and creating a small float in front of the stable land. Dewgongs attack faded away instantly, and Pippy landed again on the new float a foot away from the starting point. He turned and saw Dewgong preparing another attack, another ice beam. But now it had caught onto what he and Joe were trying to do.

"Freeze it down!" Pryce instructed.

"Thunderbolt." Joe called. Pippy charged up static and fired it in a long bolt. At the same time Dewgong fired its ice beam. The two attacks met in the middle and interlocked, blocking each other. Pippy's lightning was turned into a large glowing yellow slab of ice in mid-air, nulling attack completely into nothing. But because of this Dewgongs ice beam attack had been blocked, and it to dissipated without effort to stay. Now there were two ice floats on the field. They were rather far apart, but if Pippy could make the jump he'd be able to reach Dewgong from there. "Okay Pippy." Joe called, determinedly. "Now you have a path to reach the opponent. Slam it!" Pippy nodded, prepared to run, then jumped long over the water. Dewgong just watched with amusement. Pryce seemed to have a plan in mind, but he wasn't acting on it just yet. Pippy landed on the new float and skidded for a few seconds before jumping again and launching himself across to the opponent's area of ice.

"Body Slam!" Pryce instructed suddenly. Pippy launched himself towards Dewgong, body first to slam himself into it. But it seemed Dewgong was moving up for its own attack now. It pushed itself across the ice with its thin fluttering flippers and lowered its head, pointing its horn forwards. Pippy landed and attacked, and Dewgong retaliated. The two pokémon collided with each other, full bodies first. And it was Dewgong that came out of the attack unharmed. Pippy hadn't been strong enough to hurt it, especially when it decided to retaliate in the same way. He'd barely even budged it back across the field. Pippy was shoved backwards, where he fell to the floor, slid across the ice and dived into the freezing water. He splashed around, trying to swim but struggling. The cold began to get to him straight away. He was already shivering, unable to keep his strength up as he swam.

"Come on, Pippy." Joe called. "Keep swimming. Get to the ice float." Pippy doggy-paddled his way through the water desperately, slowly getting closed to the no longer glowing shard of frozen electricity. Dewgong readied another attack.

"No." Pryce instructed it simply. Dewgong looked to him, then called away its attack obediently. Pryce new that attacking the small pikachu at this point would just be cruel, especially if it got trapped under the ice. That would lead to a potentially hazardous situation for him. Pryce didn't want to kill it. Instead he waited until Pippy had reached the nearest float and pulled himself tiredly up onto it before considering his next action.

"Are you okay, Pippy?" Joe called. Pippy looked up from the ice, panting heavily. But he was able to give his trainer a small nod. Joe smiled back. "Can you keep fighting?" He asked. Pippy slowly pushed himself back up onto his feet and turned slowly, facing Dewgong again. Pippy wasn't going to be able to use any physical attacks on it anymore, especially now they'd found out it was stronger than he was. So instead they'd have to take it out at range. "Alright Pippy. Can you make any electricity still?" Joe asked. Pippy sparked for a second, showing his power off defensively. "Alright." Joe muttered, thinking what action he should take next. "Okay. Use thunderbolt. Paralyse that sucker." Pippy formed his static to a thin point then fired, sending a large electricity bolt flying at Dewgong. This time the space between the attack and the attacker was too close for Dewgong to block the attack. It struck it head on, exploding in sparks and pushing the sea lion pokémon several feet back across the ice.

Pryce growled. "Smart move, kid." He muttered. "But not too smart." He raised his hand out again. "Dewgong, safeguard!" He commanded. Dewgong created a thin shimmering ring around its blubbery body, which vanished again in an instant. But when it did it left a faint but still visible outline of light around Dewgongs body.

"Again!" Joe commanded. Pippy fired another thunderbolt, which again hit Dewgong head on. Except this time it didn't explode on impact like it had the previous time. In fact barely a spark was made, or a lash of static across its body. Whatever current had been in the electric attack had vanished the second it had done its damage. Any chance of paralysis had been nullified into nothing. Joe raised an eyebrow. "You've blocked my attempt to hinder." He realised. Pryce chuckled with a nod.

"Safeguard. The best way to block status attacks." He stated simply. "I told you not to rely on electricity too much. Paralysis will do you no good here." He turned back to Dewgong. "Rest." He instructed. Dewgong lay its head down on the ice, curled its body up into a ball shape and fell asleep right there. Joe grumbled. It was resting. Its health would go straight back up. What an annoying trick to pull. And now Pippy couldn't pull the trick of paralysing it, stopping it falling asleep.

"Rats!" Joe muttered in an exclamatory way. He looked back at Pippy. We're gonna have to keep shocking it till its back up." But as it turned out they didn't even need to do that. The second Joe had finished those words Dewgong started to push itself back up. Its head rose up, eyes opening again, its mouth chewing something. Pryce smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

"Should expect a trick like this from a gym leader." He said simply. "Never teach a pokémon rest _without_ giving them something to wake them up after." Joe exhaled annoyed as Dewgong finished its chesto berry and got ready to keep fighting. "Now, body slam that float!" Pryce called. Dewgong smiled and pushed itself to the water. Joe stepped back.

"Pippy, look out!" He cried. Pippy stepped back into the centre of his float. Dewgong slid into the water gracefully and swam at full speed towards the ice float. It headbutted the edge Pippy was facing, causing the float to move back in the water. Pippy wobbled but stood standing, the attack not harming him. Dewgong quickly changed attack tactics. It disappeared under the water, its horn the last part of its body to vanish. Pippy remained where he was, circled around on the spot, keeping his eyes open for Dewgongs return appearance. "Prepare to fight." Joe instructed. Pippy began to charge static down his spine. He waited patiently. But Dewgong never reappeared. Pippy began to relax a little, unsure where it had gone. Still no sign of it. Joe looked into the water, but he couldn't see it. "Odd." He muttered to himself. His eyes caught Pryce again. The gym leader seemed happy, maybe a little excited. But why. What was there to be excited or happy about at this point. His pokémon hadn't been seen for nearly a minute. And then suddenly Joe realised. He glanced back at the float. Under it he spotted a large, fat, blubbery shadow. "Pippy, look down!" He shouted quickly. Pippy had already caught on too. He was staring through the ice float he was standing on, and something under it was staring back.

"Now!" Pryce instructed. Pippy jumped, and the float shattered. Shards of ice flew outwards, splashing back into the water as Pippy was kicked up by the force and Dewgong passed through what had been an ice float of frozen water. Dewgong opened its mouth, preparing an ice beam. But Pippy, who was still sailing upwards, saw an open opportunity. He focused his electricity into his cheeks and took aim. Right before Dewgong launched its attack Pippy fired, sending a strong bolt of lightning down the seals throat. Its eyes widened, its mouth snapped shut, static ripping up and down its body. The light outline around it had gone now, faded away like the light of the sun after dusk. The giant seal fell back down to the water, where it hit with a big splash. Pippy landed after it, still conscious but barely, certainly no longer able to fight. Joe stood surprised. He hadn't expected that to be the end result. But he was glad it had been. The most he could do to respect such a quick and cleverly placed move was allow him a rest, away from the cold water.

"Pippy, come back." Joe instructed, pulling out Pippy's pokeball. The small pikachu exhaled with tired relief as he was withdrawn again. Joe placed the pokeball onto his belt again and looked back at Pryce, who had also just withdrawn Dewgong. They were both down to their last pokémon. Whatever was going to happen next, would probably have to be pretty certain in order for either trainer to win. Joe unclipped his last pokeball, which surprisingly wasn't Ralph's. Pryce also did the same. They held their pokeball of choice out, then simultaneously released them onto what available field there was. "Go Quill." Joe called.

"Go, Piloswine." Pryce called. On Joe's field appeared the thin and small quilava he had taken care of after Silver had given up on it. But on Pryce's side of the field appeared a large, brown, furry, pig nosed, short tusked mammoth like creature. It wasn't terribly big, but it looked quite stern and strong for its size. Two tufts of fuzz covered over where its eyes should have been. How it was able to see was a mystery, but clearly it could. Its immediate next attack proved that. Pryce clicked his finger. Seconds after he'd done so Piloswine closed its eyes and huge ice shards began to form and fall from the roof. Joe, Ralph and Quill glanced up.

"Look out!" Joe instructed fearfully. One gigantic shard of ice was falling down straight towards him. But, while Quill had plenty of time to back away, he didn't. Instead he chose the probably much stupider option and began melting the falling ice. He rose his head up, opened his mouth and extended a huge blast of flame from it onto the giant ice shard. To everyone's silent amazement he managed to melt the entire thing before it could strike him. But the side effect of this was now a huge pool of water landed on him instead, soaking his fiery fur. Quill shivered, but managed to ignore it for the most part. Pryce seemed intrigued that it had tried to do that.

"Impressive." He said simply. "Though highly impractical." He added. Joe looked at the field. The whole stadium had been recovered in ice again. The shards had struck the water and covered it, albeit they also made it a bit jagged and sharp then it originally had been. But now at least there was no chance of accidentally slipping and drowning. Now it was Joe's turn to attack.

"Flame wheel!" Joe instructed simply, pointing at Piloswine. Quill rolled up into a ball and began rotating on the spot, igniting like a meteor through earth's atmosphere. Then he shot across the ice field, leaving a blazing trail behind him.

"Powder Snow." Pryce instructed quietly. Piloswine inhaled a cold hasp of breath through its nose and mouth. Quill came spinning up from the left side, turning like a flaming saw blade as he sped towards his target. But when he got too close Piloswine exhaled, breathing out chilling cold air, coated in snowflakes. The attack struck Quill as he attacked, causing a strange freezing pain. He felt a shiver on his side as he passed through the falling snow specs. Quill turned back around, the cold getting too much for him. But he did manage to blast Piloswine with a quick tail flame as he turned and fled again, causing some damage. Pryce grinned. "Your fire type doesn't like the cold much." He muttered. Joe grumbled. It seemed that Quill wouldn't be likely to pull off a close combat attack like that, not with Piloswine knowing a move like that. Fortunately Quill didn't seem to be too badly hurt. Only a little cold.

"Let's try again, Quill." Joe called as Quill reached his side of the field again and stopped, his fire extinguishing. "Try flamethrower!" Quill nodded and turned back to the field. He ran straight down it, head low and moving quickly on all fours.

"Amnesia." Pryce instructed. Piloswine furrowed its fuzzy brow and seemed to think hard. Then it seemed confused, as though it had forgotten something. Quill rushed up to it, got close enough to use his attack and blasted a pillar of flame from his mouth onto the furry elephant pig crossbreed. Piloswine flinched, its fur being singed by the attack. But it seemed to resist the attack for the most part. Pryce threw his arm out again in a way that nearly snapped it off. "Fury Attack!" He roared. Piloswine lashed forwards with its tusks, slashing across with them again and again. It hit Quill in on the front three times before he was able to back out of range.

"Try smokescreen!" Joe instructed. Quill exhaled a ball plume of thick black smoke from his mouth, sending it floating towards the opponent. The cloud covered Piloswine, blocking it out of sight and leaving it trapped in a sightless cloud. "Try using flame wheel again!" Joe instructed quickly. Quill erupted into fire and rolled towards the cloud, blazing fire. But as he reached it Piloswine reappeared out of it again, charging like a fuzzy bull from an arctic farm. It struck Quill head on, resisting the flames and sending the small mouse like pokémon skidding back across the ice. Quill eventually stopped flaming and came to a halt, rolling the last of the way.

"What did I say?" Pryce reminded Joe. "Fire won't help you win this." He crossed his arms proudly as Quill got back to his feet. "Blizzard." He instructed simply. A second after he'd said it Piloswine already began inhaling. When it breathed out it sent a humungous gale of ice shards and freezing air out across the battlefield. Quill was caught directly at its centre. He tried to push against it, but the attack was too hindering. The cold was tightening his muscles up, the ice shards were cutting him, the gale was keeping him back. Joe had to think quick how to react.

"Flame wheel!" He instructed. "Use your fire to heat up its attack!" Quill kept running against it, but slowly planned himself into his own attack. Fire started up on his back again, and when he got the chance he flipped over and curled up into a rotating ball. He spun on the spot, blazing madly with red flame, his fired melting the ice shards and cold in the air. But he wasn't moving fast enough to push against the powerful wind. Joe clenched his fists. It wasn't enough. He need to do something else.

And then, for a split second, Quill seemed to flash bright white. His flames extended on his back, moving up slightly as well from a line to a row. His body seemed to get a little bigger from where has curled up, turning his small rotating flame ball into a bigger rotating flame ball. And slowly he started to push against the icy wind. Piloswine was beginning to look a little panicky. And that's when Quill finally broke through. He sped through the strong winds, somehow suddenly unhindered by them, bursting forward with a blazing flame train behind him. He reached Piloswine within seconds and smashed straight into its face. Piloswine was no longer standing where it had been. It was now several metres further back and on its side, flames simmering on its fur. Quill unrolled again and stood proudly on his back legs, suddenly standing a whole three feet higher than it had been. Joe and Ralph looked at their teammate in amazement. Almost out of nowhere and with no warning, Quill had evolved again, just like Leaf had done in Mt Mortar. Only in his case he hadn't evolved into a giant green flower vegetable. No, quill had gone from being a small and lanky fire mouse to huge towering enflamed giant mouse with a very angry face. His back fire had gone from being quills down his back to a blazing collar around his neck. And he seemed full to the top of power. Quill inhaled the cold air and exhaled it as steam through his nose. Then he took a step forwards. Piloswine pushed itself back into its feet using its tusks, spotted the titan walking towards it, and took a few steps back itself. Even Pryce suddenly seemed quite worried. He hadn't expected it to suddenly grow to double the size it had been.

"Blizzard again!" He instructed quickly. Piloswine desperately breathed out another gale of ice and cold, but it did nothing to stop the giant typhlosion walking towards it.

"Flame Wheel!" Joe commanded again. Quill curled up, ignited again and sped towards his target. The impact of the attack sent Piloswine flying backwards, spinning across the ice. It finally crashed into the back wall, lying almost beaten and barely conscious. It was no longer strong enough to get back up. Quill stomped towards it, preparing to finish it off.

"Stop!" Pryce suddenly called. Everyone and everything in the room turned to him. He had his arms limply by his side, holding his head low. He closed his eyes. "This battle has gone on long enough." He sighed. The whole room was silent and motionless. He raised his right arm out, holding a pokeball in it. With the press of a button Piloswine was withdrawn from the field, returning inside and being given a chance to rest. Pryce dropped his arm down again.

"What is he doing?" Joe thought quietly. This was an odd behaviour for a gym leader. Usually they'd fight till one of you was beaten. Pryce looked up again, his face solemn.

"I withdraw from this battle." He said simply. Joe looked at the old man. With a simple couple of words the battle was over. Joe had won, though not exactly by pure effort. There were no immediate celebrations. Instead everyone continue to look at Pryce in shock.

"What?" was the only word Joe could think of to say? Pryce turned his eyes to him.

"As I said." Pryce repeated. "I surrender. You've won. You've defeated me, boy. Congratulations." Joe still seemed really shocked.

"But… why? Why suddenly just quit." He asked. Pryce stepped away from his podium.

"Let me explain it to you." He said simply. He walked away from his podium, standing at the side of the battlefield, gesturing that Joe join him there. Joe obliged, being careful of his footing as he walked back across the ice. On his way he withdrew the newly evolved Quill back into his ball and Ralph followed after him, keeping his back and making sure he didn't slip and hit his head on the ice. Eventually they reached the aging gym leader and spoke. Pryce sighed.

"I'm tired." He explained simply. "I'm tired of all this fighting. I've seen too much of it. So many trainers used to come in day by day, back when I was a much younger gym leader. But now I'm too old to fight them all. That's why I was so cold and unwelcoming when you came in. I don't like fighting in pokémon battles anymore. And you saw how well this fight went for me." Joe looked at him.

"That's not true." He said, trying to warm him up again. "You took out two of my pokémon."

"I hindered two of your pokémon." Pryce interrupted. "I never actually made them faint." He sighed and shook his head. "This game just isn't for me anymore." He said sadly. "As of today I am announcing my retirement as Leader of Mahogany Town's pokémon Gym."

Joe gave a quiet gasp. "You can't seriously just throw in the towel completely, can you?" He stated. Pryce shrugged.

"I don't know if I am allowed to." He agreed. "But I am doing so. I'm only getting older. I'm not the trainer I used to be. Now I'm just a cold, heartless, grumpy old man with a bunch of ice types. I'll let someone else take the reins now. A younger man or woman should do this job, not an old man."

"Are you sure?" Joe asked him firmly. "If it's because of our battle that you've made this choice then you should really rethink." Pryce chuckled.

"Oh no, no. It's not because of that I'm leaving." He explained. "While our fight did help me decide, I've wanted to leave for a long time now. I don't have fun battling pokémon anymore. Now it all seems too violent and cruel to me."

Joe sighed. "Well, if you're sure." He said simply.

"I am." Pryce told him, a small smile on his wrinkled face. "I'll pass it on to someone else." He turned and looked around the gym. "Still, I'll miss it. I've been working here a long time. But now it's time to pass on the blue ice torch. Let someone else take my place. Someone younger." He chuckled. "Someone with a colder heart then mine." He laughed a little. "But, in any case, thank you for battling me. You're a good boy and a skilled trainer. So you before I quit for good I would like to give you my gym's signature badge." He held out his hand and dropped a seventh badge into Joe's open palm. "That's the glacier badge." He explained. "You show that to Clare in Blackthorn City and it should make her want to battle you. It'll also help you get to fight the Johto league if you ever make it that far." Joe looked at the badge. It was shaped simply like an ice blue and white frost spec. He placed it with all the others.

"Thanks." Joe said. "And I'm sorry that you're leaving." Pryce smiled warmly back.

"Don't be." He told him. "My time has come. Besides, I can't stand the cold in here anymore." He added, shivering a little and rubbing his hand together. "Now go on. You've probably got somewhere else to be, so I won't keep you any longer." Joe bowed his gratitude and went, leaving the old man to his lonesome.

He left the gym once more, re-joining with his friends at the front door. When they asked him what Pryce had said he simply told that he had bid them good luck and farewell.

* * *

Danning crept out from his room and snuck slowly down the hallway, a red lamped flashlight in his hand. He headed for the garage area near the front of the rocket base. It was nearly one in the morning, so most of the grunts would either be asleep or out. There would of course be a few patrolling the base, but he could easily dodge them. He was carrying a small bag with him, filled mainly with necessities; food, clothing and personal materials. But he wasn't wearing his rocket uniform anymore. He had thrown it away, not wanting to have anything to do with it any further. He was done with Team Rocket. He'd always known they were evil people, but certain things couldn't be stood for. Now he was wearing a simply battered hoodie and thin trousers and an old pair of shoes. This was it. He wasn't staying there another day. He wanted nothing to do with Archer's plans. He had to find a way to stop it. He only hoped that Crystal would stay safe without him there to look out for her.

Eventually he made his way to the large garage. Half the jeeps were there still, but the other half had been taken out of capture trips or arranged attacks on small settlements. It was shameful. It always had been. But before he had just ignored it, letting it past as something he couldn't stop. But no longer. Abuse of a child was not something he could accept as necessary. He wanted no more to do with it. He was going, once and for all, no matter the consequence.

He hid behind the wall as a patrolling grunt went by, barely seeming perceptive in the slightest. He didn't even look as he turned the corner, passing Danning by an inch. He continued onwards, sneaking up beside a jeep and checking to see if any other grunts were nearby. When he was sure there were none he quietly crept up to the huge metal sheet gates. Those doors slid open to the real world, allowing aired freedom to the trapped prisoners of the Rocket crew. He reached for the handle and fiddled with the lock, attempting to crack it. He had a hair pin and a small thin screwdriver head, and he knew how to pick a good lock. He slotted the pieces into place and began setting to work, keeping as quiet as he could. He turned the screwdriver, tapped up the hairpin and one by one, slowly but surely, the tumblers in the lock began to click into place. He bit his tongue. Only a few more, then he'd be out. Danning was so concentrated on the lock, which would snap his hairpin if he let go for a second, that he failed to hear someone walking up behind him. The footsteps were slow and quiet. The figure stopped at the edge of the shadows, watching Danning with interest. His face was covered by a mask. His cloak was link at his back and side. His glove hands hung by his side, then slowly balled into fists. He tapped his foot quietly.

"What's going on here, Danning?" The figure asked suddenly. Danning's head shot up. He sighed. Caught. This wouldn't end so well after all. He let go of the hairpin, which snapped in half as the lock turned back into place, and turned to the person confronting him. To his eternally unlucky horror, the man in his way was his boss, Archer. Archer stepped out of the darkness, his white clothing coating his whole body, his red visor white wool mask glaring emotionlessly at him. Archer kept his face directed towards the rocket grunts. "What are you doing with that door?" Danning looked back at his boss.

"I was just trying to open it." He told him simply, but not nervously or weakly. He knew it was best not to try and lie to Archer. The man could tell when you did, or at least he always assumed you were. And if he turned out to be right then you'd go home with a few less limbs and vital organs.

"Oh." The rocket boss said, not sounding surprised nor believing. He sounded disbelieving mostly. "Well, if that's the case, why didn't you use the keys?" He asked. His words were a glass of clear, still poison. It looked and sounded drinkable, but to do so would most likely burn away your whole jaw. Danning new better than to trust him.

"Couldn't find them." He explained simply, but maybe a bit too quickly. Danning hummed and nodded his head. You almost could believe that he himself believed it. Then he glanced back.

"Baxter!" He shouted suddenly. From the darkness the fat black form of Baxter appeared, grinning smugly to himself. Danning felt his stomach turn. What had Baxter done? What had he found out? He clearly had something to do with this. Archer looked at the fat grunt working for him. "Do you have the garage door keys?" He asked simply.

"Yes, boss." Baxter told him.

"Good." Archer turned back to Danning. "Throw them to him." Baxter hurled the keys at Danning, who caught them with one hand. "You want to open the door." Archer told him. "Now open the door." Danning felt a bead of sweat under his hat. He knew Archer had something in mind. He wasn't just going to walk out. Archer was too smart and too suspicious of him to let him do that.

"Okay." He muttered quietly. Danning fitted the key into the lock, turned it and clicked it into place. He grabbed the bottom of the sliding door and lifted it up, raising the metal sheet covering upwards and over his head. The cold air of autumn struck him in the face, supplying him with real, proper oxygen. It was dark night, the dusk having passed and the moon now being the only thing supplying light to the world. On the forest valley ahead he could see Mahogany Town glowing in its man-made light. He could run. He could head for the trees and try to avoid the gunfire. If he made it he could get to the town, call the police, warn them of the rocket base nearby. But if he did, he would doom himself to forever being hunted, especially with Archer watching him like this. "It's open." He said, looking out on the landscape.

"Well done, Danning." Archer said. "Now, close it again." Danning felt his heart clench. He couldn't do it. Freedom was so close, it was practically calling his name. "I said close it, Danning." Archer repeated. "You've had your minute of looking out. We don't want the villagers to see us, do we?" Danning sighed quietly, taking in his last breath of open air. He felt he'd never get to taste it again.

"Yes sir." He said quietly but obediently. He reached up and pulled the metal sliding door down again, locking it finally and shutting them in from the free world. Archer smiled under his mask.

"Well done." He said with a smug hint of torturous enjoyment. "What a good little pawn you are." Danning turned to face his boss, the leader of team rocket.

"How did you know I was here?" He asked, realising that he was indeed doomed. Archer glanced subtly at Baxter.

"Your little friend told us everything." He said. "She was very co-operative." Danning's eyes widened with fear.

"Crystal." He whispered. "If you monsters have done anything to her…"

"She is quite healthy at this moment." Archer interrupted. "Though, if you fail to negotiate with us, she wouldn't remain so." He clicked a finger and another person began walking out of the dark. With then Danning could hear someone else struggling and complaining. Gilbert stepped out from the dark, and struggling in his powerful grip was…

"Oh no!" Danning muttered. "Crystal!" The young girl finally manged to free her mouth from Gilberts hand and she looked at him, her eyes big, sad and apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Danning." She sobbed. "I…I had no choice. They were going to remove my arm if I didn't." Danning glared at archer, fury eyed.

"You bastard!" He exclaimed.

"We all have our floors, Danning." Archer said simply. The leader took a step forward. "Yours would be that you trusted a child with your secrets. A child who is easily scared."

"Leave her alone." Danning insisted, glaring down his boss.

"I will leave her alone." Archer told him. "Crystal shall be unharmed." He explained. "But first you answer my questions." He stated. Danning saw more movement in the dark. From out of the shadows nine ten more grunts stepped, all circling around him like hunters around an injured lion. They left Danning surrounded and pressed against the garage door. Archer stepped forwards again. "Who are you spying for?" He asked. Danning looked at the mad man who had an army behind him.

"No one." Danning said simply. Archer seemed to audibly get more annoyed.

"I'll ask again." He repeated, speaking more stern and demandingly now. "Who are you spying for?"

"I'm not a spy, Archer!" Danning snapped. Archer seemed to grin.

"Alright." He stated. "We'll play it your way." He looked at his surrounding men. "Hold him!" The ten grunts rushed at Danning, closing the circle is seconds. He tried to fight them off, but it proved no good. He was able to lay a few good punches on one or two of the grunts, but in the end they subdued him, grabbing his arms and knocking out his legs, leaving him a pinned puppet in their arms. They continued to beat him again and again, striking his chest and back and arms and legs until they were told to stop. Then they dragged him kicking and struggling across the garage floor towards their boss.

"Danning!" Crystal cried.

"Shut up!" Baxter snapped at her, puffing his cigar toxically.

Archer knelt down to Danning's level, looking the grunt in the face. "Now that you've been taken down a level, are you going to co-operate with me?" He glanced at Crystal. "Or do I need to take this a step further?" Danning sighed.

"Alright." He huffed, blood pouring from his cut nose, bruised face and slashed lip. "I'll admit it. I'm a spy."

"For who?" Archer asked. Danning coughed.

"Gio… Giovanni." He finally managed to say, panting heavily.

"Giovanni?" Archer repeated, seeming surprised yet also furious. "So that old rat is still around, is he?" He smiled. "Well, now I've got his little spy, and he's no longer under my skin." He stood up again. "Let him go." He stated calmly. The grunts let Danning drop to the ground again, standing back as they did so. The beaten man coughed and lay there flat, too winded to try anything. "I can't say I'm surprised, though." Archer continued. "Giovanni has always been a pain. And to think that once he was my boss!" He chuckled. "But no longer. Team Rocket has moved on from those days, and now we are better. So much better than he ever could make us." Danning laughed, coughing up blood.

"Yeah. Better." He joked mockingly. "So much better. In fact you're so 'better' you don't even need loyalty or cunning to rule. You just use a tyrant's fist to do so." Archer growled. He reached down, grabbed Danning's head and yanked his head up.

"You would do well to remember who you were talking to!" He stated. Then he struck Danning with a strong punch to the face. Several teeth cracked in his mouth. Danning choked and coughed again. Archer let go of him, and began kicking the man in the side. With each strike Danning would wince and curl up tighter to endure the pain. Crystal was forced to watch as her friend was beaten nearly to death. Then, when Danning could do nothing but lie there, barely conscious, Archer finally stopped. He spat on the man and turned away. "Get me his pokeball belt!" He stated suddenly. Two grunts nodded and ran up to the beaten man, grabbing his belt and breaking it off. They then handed it to Archer. "My, my, Danning." The rocket boss muttered. "You certainly have a mighty collection here. A whopping three pokémon I count." He hummed, holding a finger to his chin. "But which to pick?"

"What… are you…?" Danning tried to ask.

"Hush up, now." He said mockingly to the hurt man. "Let me think." He picked of one of the pokeballs like fruit from a tree branch. "Ah." He said cunningly. "This one." He held the ball out in his hand and, wordlessly, released it. Danning's Ariados appeared at his side. She clicked, confused by what was going on around her. Then she turned and spotted her trainer. She crawled up to him, a concerned expression on her arachnid face, tapping his side with a thin but sharp leg.

"Ariadne…" Danning gasped. "Run… go…" Archer tilted his head.

"Ariadne?" He repeated. Then he smiled. "Oh, you nicknamed your pokémon." He realised. Ariadne turned around and looked at the tall white clothed human before her. She backed up, hissing with her clicking mandibles. She fired a web at him, but Archer simply pulled it off. Something silver and sleek appeared in his hand. "That's against the rules, Danning." He stated simply. A smile grew under his mask, and his voice became almost playful. "But I'll forgive you for that… because she's so cute."

There was a loud flash, combined with an explosion of gunpowder. Then there was the sound of a fleshy impact, and a collapsing corpse.

"No!" Danning screamed, as brown blood splashed his face. Archer's gun smoked at the end. Then it fired again, and again, and again. It kept firing till the cock clicked up and the clip ran out. Then he lowered it again, placing the sleek silver handgun back into his deep pockets.

"But I will not let treachery and espionage go without punishment." He continued his voice going back to his furious abominable growl. "Now you see what happens to traitors! Now you see your own pokémon dead! Was it worth it, Danning?! Was it really worth it!?" Danning looked up at the monstrous human looming over him.

"You bastard!" He growled. "You animal! You murderer!" He spat on Archer's shoe. Archer exhaled angrily, venting his rage away.

"Lock him up." He instructed Baxter. The fat grunt couldn't be happier to do so. He called over two of the other grunts and together they grabbed their ex colleague under the arms and dragged him on his knees across the floor. "The rest of you, take this corpse to the incinerator and burn it with the rest." Archer instructed. The remaining grunts nodded and set to work. They lifted up the deceased ariados and carried it away in a net of its own web. "I can't allow chaos among the ranks, not when we're so close to our goal." Archer turned and left, passing Crystal as he went. The girl was sobbing traumatically. He glanced at Gilbert. "Let her go." He said simply. Gilbert let Crystal go again. She fell to her knees. Archer stepped up to her and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Thank you for co-operating with us." He said simply. "Now you know the costs of being a traitor. I hope you don't follow your friend's choices." Archer let go of her again and walked off, heading back to his office.

Crystal was left alone, traumatised to hell by what had just happened. She hadn't expected this. She hadn't wanted this. She thought that they'd just punish Danning and lock him up. She never expected them to… She nearly threw up at the memory of it.

"It's my fault!" She gasped through her tears. She held her head in her hands. "It's all my fault! I… I didn't want them to kill her. I just wanted Danning to be safe." She punched the floor. If she had been brave enough she would have fought against Baxter and had her arm removed. But she wasn't brave. She was just a scared little girl. And that scared little girl had just got a man beaten and locked up, and an innocent pokémon killed. But the worst part was, deep down, Crystal was glad. She was glad it had been Ariadne, and not Azi.


	27. Chapter 27: Lost Crobat

The next day the trio were back on the road, continuing on from Mahogany town to their next destination, Blackthorn City. It would be a long walk, taking them maybe over a day or so, but they were willing to risk that long. After they had gone back and rested at the pokémon centre for the night they had set of again, heading east out of town. Silver was leading the group, with Ralph not too far behind him. But Winter and Joe were holding back a bit. They were deep in discussion. Pryce's decision to quit the previous evening had taken them by surprise. Winter was trying to understand what he had said.

"What did he say to you afterwards?" She asked him. Joe shrugged.

"He just told me he was tired of battling trainers. That he's too old to do so anymore." Winter sighed.

"I thought that's what he'd say." She told him. "I remember seeing him in Kanto once, when Misty and the other gym leaders were having a meeting with the Johto leaders at the time. He did seem quite tired then, but not so much so. If he really doesn't enjoy it anymore, though…" She stopped herself. There wasn't anything more she could say on it. "Did he say who was taking his place?" She asked him, suddenly interested again.

"No." Joe told her. "I imagine he'll put one of his students onto the position."

"Oh." Winter said, seeming a little disappointed.

"Why? Were you interested in running for it?" He asked. Winter hummed thoughtfully.

"I guess." She admitted. "But I'm not sure really. I mean, it's a chance to do what I've always dreamed of doing. Being a gym leader. But, with everything that's going on, I don't think it's the right thing to do." She smiled at him. "After all, I'm probably needed here… with you." Joe gave her a slight smile back.

"You don't have to hang around me if you don't want to." He told her kindly. "I don't mind if you want to take up a job as gym leader."

"No." Winter told him simply. "You need everyone you can get to help fight Team Rocket, and I'm already a part of this. So I'm staying, even if it means missing my chance at my dream." Joe felt privileged.

"Winter…" He muttered, wide eyed at her. "Thank you. That's… really good!" She blushed slightly.

"Thanks." She murmured, slightly sheepishly. They looked away from each other.

Ahead of them the rout was turning a little. The path went south sharply, making a turn down the hill and onto a lower area of the field several metres down. They followed it, walking carefully.

"That red gyarados you caught was a monster, by the way." Winter told him suddenly. Joe glanced back at her. He chuckled a little.

"Yeah." He agreed. "She was. I'll need to train that out of her."

"You will." Winter agreed, also laughing a little. "Unless you want to pay the bills to fix the houses she trashes." They laughed. "It still amazes me that you even managed to catch that thing." She told him, her finger pointing to the black serene ball on Joe's belt.

"So am I." He agreed. "But I guess Lance knew what he was doing…" He paused. "Almost as if he knew it was going to happen."

"Well I think it's a sign that you're not as bad a trainer as you sometimes think you are." She told him. He looked at her. She smiled. "Maybe you should remind yourself of that more often." She gave him a small wink, then sped up her walk a little, making them head forward a bit faster as Joe tried to keep up with her. As he did so he felt a small body move about against his back.

"Ah." He smiled a little. "Somebody's awake again." He slowed down and slid his bag off his shoulders, placing it on the floor and lifting Casey back out of it. The tiny togepi toddler cooed and giggled as he was pulled out. He'd been rummaging through Joe's Berry jar again when he got hungry, so half a juicy Oran berry was poking out from his mouth. Joe chuckled. "You need to stop doing that." He said, though barely strictly enough to get a rule across. "You're gonna get fat." Casey just ignored him and continued eating the berry. Joe chuckled. "Okay." He muttered, standing up again. "I'll let you get away with it this once." He slung the bag over his shoulders again, careful as he held Casey in his arms so that he didn't drop the young pokémon. He looked up to see Winter had stopped and was looking back at him. She was smiling. He smiled back at her. He continued walking, quickly catching up again as she and Silver waited.

"He's getting bigger." She told him as he caught up.

"Yeah." Joe agreed. "And hungrier."

"At least those are good signs." She reassured him. Joe smiled back. Beside them Ralph gave a long nonchalant yawn. They ignored him. "Can't be long now." Winter continued. Joe looked back at her.

"Till what?" He asked.

"Till he evolves." She explained.

"Evolves." Joe seemed taken by surprise by the comment.

"Into a Togetic, himself." Winter continued. "He can't be too far away. You've had him for almost a few weeks now, and he's done a lot of growing." Joe chuckled thoughtfully.

"It feels like barely any time at all." He muttered. "It's gone so fast."

"I know." Winter agreed. "This is the first time either of us have taken care of a young living thing, but I think we've done a pretty good job of it." She smiled at her friend. "Don't you?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah." He agreed. "We have. But's it's not been easy." He looked at her, his face a little saddened now. "I don't think I want him to grow up just yet." He told her. She understood his feelings and tried to support him.

"It's not your choice." She explained. "He's going to at some point, when he's ready to. Till then he still needs you. You're practically his father."

"Adopted father." Joe reminded her.

"Adopted father. Winter corrected herself. Casey yawned quietly and fell asleep again. Joe smiled down at him. "What does that make me, do you think?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"I dunno. I wouldn't think he sees you as a mother much." He said.

"Thanks." Winter said, making a disappointed expression.

"I didn't mean it like that." Joe told her. "No, he probably sees you as an aunt. You're certainly more of a sister to me than a simple friend."

"I'm not sure if you're trying to complement or insult me." She told him. Joe blushed slightly.

"Sorry." He muttered. "I'll just… Yeah, I'll shut up now." They continued walking.

"What about Silver then?" Winter asked. Joe looked up. The red-haired trainer was quite far ahead of them now, still walking on without showing any thought for his friends lagging behind. Joe cupped his hands to his mouth.

"Hey, Silver!" He shouted. "Which would you rather be? Casey's Uncle or Casey's Godfather?" From ahead they heard Silver's voice echo back.

"Bite Me!" He shouted. Joe pulled a surprised but disgusted expression.

"Well that's just rude." He muttered, repulsed. "I don't think he should use that language around the kid." Winter laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

"He's definitely the annoying uncle Casey needs." She joked. Joe laughed too.

Ralph slowly moved away from the duo, giving them slightly disturbed eyes from the corners of his sockets. This discussion was getting awkwardly weird. The two trainers calmed down a little and hurried up their walk.

"How far to go now?" Joe wondered. Winter looked on.

"Well, after this route, there's the ice path through the northern low mountains, and then a short walk after to Blackthorn city." She explained. "I don't know how long we still need to walk to get to the Ice Path, but it can't be too far away now, if we've been walking almost half an hour already."

"Maybe." Joe muttered in agreement. "If we get lucky we could reach the city by tomorrow morning." He told her.

"If we get lucky." Winter agreed. "And we don't get stuck in the middle of a storm or something… Or get attacked by Team Rocket again."

"I don't think that's likely right now." Joe told her. "They probably think I'm done for, or they're scared of the police. I think it's unlikely we'll be bothered by much

Much to his disappointment, it did indeed turn out that Joe was very wrong on his assumption. Not ten minutes after he'd said it, when he and Winter and Ralph had caught back up with Silver, that the first of many problems popped up. Team Ace came running out from the trees. How they had got there was anyone's guess, but they came charging out, running in fear from something clearly very large and very angry. The trio of troublesome nitwits came rushing from the trees, nearly falling as they sped down the hillside. First Joe and his friends heard them. Then they saw them.

"What in the…?" Silver muttered. Then Frank rammed into his shoulder, knocking him aside.

"Look out!" Frank shouted. "It's chasing us?"

"What is?" Silver groaned in pain.

"It!" Frank repeated. The terrified flame haired, yellow eyed fake human glance back up the hill in fear. Ruby and Ross also glanced back as they ran past their friend. At the top of the bank something charged its way through the low branches, cracking them off like twigs from a bush. Its purple hide shoved its way through the thicket and out onto the path. It glared at Team Ace and roared, creating a low guttural call of horror.

"Is that a Nidoking?" Joe muttered.

"Yeah!" Ross muttered. "And it's pissed off! So run!" The Nidoking certainly was very angry indeed. It opened its mouth again, but instead of creating sound it created light.

"Look out!" Winter yelled. She grabbed Joe and pulled him down, the two of them collapsing to the ground. Ralph piled on top of them to protect his friends further. Nidoking fired his hyper beam, striking the land with a massive white hot blast and scorching the road, grass and even the air. Casey began to bawl heavy wet tears in fear. The attack knocked Silver and the Aces of their feet. When the attack was done the whole area was scolded and burning. Ralph was the first to get back up. He wasn't going to let this beast threaten his friends. Nidoking was already getting ready to fight. Most pokémon needed to rest after using hyper beam, but not this one. It was a formidable tank that never ran out of ammo. Nidoking lowered its horned head and charged, rampaging forward and causing the ground under it to quake. Ralph stood his ground, squaring off against it and not moving to show he was not afraid. The giant kept charging, speeding up and not slowing for a second. Ralph was starting to realise how painful this was going to be. But it was already too late to react. Nidoking struck him, sending the defiant but sadly rather puny crobat sailing backwards. Nidoking kept on charging, its large arms gripping Ralph by his side and his huge body crushing him forwards with propulsion. The two pokémon crashed across the route and back into the trees, disappearing from sight.

The six trainers stood up again, looking at the large gaping area they had created upon impact. But Neither a Nidoking nor a crobat were visible any longer. The six of they looked into the trees, confused and terrified and beaten and stunned.

"Ralph?" Joe called, looking into the trees. There was no response. "Ralph!" Joe shouted again. "Come back!" But Ralph didn't come back. The two of them had been lost in the woods.

* * *

Nidoking kept up its charge, shoving Ralph on into the woods, his wings gripped in its powerful arms. The helpless crobat tried to fight back, struggling and biting at its attacker, but the force of their charge kept him pushed back and Nidoking was too strong to be bothered by such small attacks. They crashed through the forest, destroying bushes, small plants, young trees and even one or two fully grown trees. They kept on going till they were deep in the trees. Finally they stopped when Nidoking reached a large oak tree and crashed torso first into it, pushing Ralph into the bark. The crobat coughed in pain. Nidoking held him against the giant tree, growling with misplaced rage. It grabbed Ralph by the neck and pushed him into the tree, cracking the bark. Ralph choked as he struggled to break free. His wings grabbed Nidokings wrists and tried to brake theme away, but the beast was much stronger than he was. Nidoking lowered its head and began ramming its horn into Ralph's chest, causing vicious bruising. The crobat winced with each attack, but tried to stay strong. With each pummel the beast got stronger, making its following attack much more painful. Then finally Ralph saw his chance. He brought his wing down on the side of Nidokings neck at full force. The attack was sharp enough to cause the giant purple spike monster to let go of its prey and fall back a bit, coughing as its throat swelled up a little. Now Ralph was free, and he had a chance to attack back. He pulled back his wings and threw forth a sharp gust of air which cut at Nidokings skin and knocked it back. But by this point it had already recovered from its previous attack. It rushed Ralph, horned head lowered again. Ralph darted aside just as it charged at him, striking the tree instead. But it wasn't beaten by this. Nidoking lashed out to its side almost immediately and caught Ralph by his lower wing. A second later the crobat was yanked from the air and swung around Nidokings head like a lasso or a ball on a rope. His head spun as the world whirled around him. He called out in pain and terror, but his cry was as blurred and distorted as his body. Finally Nidoking let go, and Ralph flew away, out above the trees and over the forest, until finally he came back down with a thud further into the woods.

Further into the forest a small blue skinned primate with a long tail that ended in a third inflated three fingered hand was climbing back down a distant tree. It used its tail to reach onto lower branched, then let go with its arms and legs, hanging there as it reached for the next branch. It didn't take long to reach the ground at this speed. Once it did the small primate scratched its ear and looked around. It spotted nearby a berry bush, with seven juicy berries growing on it. It licked its lips and scurried over, picking the berries of with its normal, smaller hands and collecting them up in its tail hand. The small creature was an aipom, a slightly rare species of primate pokémon found in the more northern forest areas of Johto. And on this day it was relatively relaxed and happy. It was even whistling a small tune as it plucked the berries from their branches. So when a large purple form came whistling down from the forest roof and crashed face first into the dirt several metres behind it, the little blue monkey was taken very much my surprise.

"Aah!" She screamed in a chimp-like screech. The aipom froze in place, holding herself very still in believe that, if whatever it was saw her it would just assume she was a statue. But after almost a minute of standing still the aipom finally took a risk and looked back at the thing that had landed. It had ears, and feet and two huge purple wings, with two tiny wings above its flat legless feet. It groaned painfully. It didn't take long for Aipom to realise that this was no meteor, nor a weird missile. It was a fellow pokémon.

"Oh my." She exclaimed, rushing up to the thing that had landed and trying to roll it over. "Are you okay, sir?" She asked.

"Grrrrr." The purple thing groaned. Aipom shrugged. It looked like some kind of large zubat, or maybe even a mutant golbat. She had never seen anything that looked like this pokémon before. She dropped the berries she'd been holding in her tail hand and attempted to roll the creature over. It was three times the size she was, but somehow she managed to get it onto its side after a few seconds of heavy lifting. She gasped as she saw its face. It had two large closed eyes as well, with a large fanged mouth that was hanging open and covered in dirt, leaves and grass. It coughed and opened its eyes. They were bright and yellow and sharp. Aipom backed up a little.

"What are you?" She asked in confusion. The purple winged beast coughed, spitting out mud from its mouth. A few particles splashed Aipom's face. She wiped them away and continued to stare at it. It tried to speak now.

"What…?" It gasped, lungs seizing up a little. "…Where…?"

"You just…" Aipom muttered. "Fell from the sky!" She looked up at the hole it had made when falling through the forest roof. "How did you even get up there?" She asked.

"I was…" The thing gasped. "I was thrown…!" Aipom looked surprised.

"Whatever threw you would have to be pretty big and strong to do that." She muttered.

"It was…" The beast told her. It rolled over onto its back, looking up at the forest roof and inhaling deeply. Aipom looked it over again.

"What are you?" She asked it again. The beast looked at her from the corner of its eyes.

"I'm…" It coughed slightly. "I'm Ralph." It told her.

"A Ralph?" Aipom puzzled. "I've never heard of a Ralph before? You look like some kind of mutant golbat!" Ralph laughed.

"No, my name is Ralph." He corrected her explanatorily. "I'm a crobat."

"An acrobat?" Aipom puzzled further.

"A Crobat." Ralph corrected her again. Aipom wrinkled her mouth.

"Never heard of one of them before. You some kind of foreign pokémon?"

"Technically." Ralph rolled over, trying to push himself back up. But as he did so his wings crumpled under him. He was unable to put weight on them. They were weak from the attacks. He collapsed again.

"Are you okay?" Aipom asked, grabbing his large head in an attempt to stop him getting to hurt. Ralph groaned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He told her, wincing. He looked around a little. "Where am I?" He asked. Aipom looked around too, then shrugged.

"Dunno." She told him simply. "I've never been in here before. I live a way outside the woods here, in a large hedge by the pond." She explained.

"I need to go." Ralph muttered, trying to get back into the air again. "I have friends waiting for me. They'll worry about me. I need to find them." He attempted to jump back into the air, but winced as again his wings failed to take his weight. Aipom watched, slightly amused.

"More crobats?" She asked.

"No." Ralph told her. "Humans."

"Humans!" Aipom exclaimed. She backed away in fear. "What are you doing hanging around those monsters?!" She demanded, hanging back with terrified eyes.

"My trainer." Ralph said simply, coughing again.

"You're a caught pokémon." Aipom realised. She crossed her arms unkindly. "Of course you are! I should have known it! I thought you smelled weird."

"Can you help me?" Ralph asked. "Please. I can't fly right now."

"Well…"

Aipom glanced back at the crobat she had helped already. She was afraid of him, not because he was a lot bigger than her, but because he was a human's pokémon. He could be lying to her. He could at any minute attack her and drag her back to his master as a prize so she could be caught too. She didn't want that. She had heard terrifying stories of pokémon being caught. She was too afraid to let anything like that happen to her. But he was asking for her help, and he couldn't do anything for himself in the state he was in right now. He couldn't fly because his wings were injured, and his tiny feet were too small to walk on. He need a hand, and he wasn't going to get it from anyone else. In the back of her mind Aipom knew that something had thrown him, and that something could come back at any second, or find them later when he had rested up. The last thing she wanted was to be involved in a fight. But the crobat did need help, and she was the only one there who could give it.

She sighed. "Fine." She muttered. "I'll help you out." Ralph smiled at her.

"Thank you…" He groaned.

"Just stay quiet for now." She told him, grabbing his chin with her tail hand. "Can you stand at least?" Ralph manoeuvred himself onto his wings again, this time sitting on them, keeping himself up with his folded wings acting like makeshift front legs while his back legs kept him on the ground and took most of the weight.

"I think so." He muttered.

"Good." Aipom told him, taking his shoulder in her tail hand and holding him steady. "Just follow me. I'll take you back to my home. You can rest up there for the night, then we'll start searching tomorrow when you're stronger.

"Is your home far?" Ralph asked.

"Not too far. We just need to keep going" Aipom told him. "It's out of the woods, over the hill and then at the water's edge."

Aipom helped Ralph crawl on as they headed for the edge of the woods. They managed to reach it without any trouble and thankfully not running into Nidoking again. Once they were at the edge they stepped out and began a track up the short hillside. All the way Aipom helped to keep Ralph up, worried that he would collapse if she didn't do so. They continued the walk up hill, the climb making it tougher to keep going. But eventually they managed to make it to the top, sitting for a rest as they looked on over the low land. Ahead was a large clear pond with several small brushes and trees around the edge and a small dry dirt island at its centre.

"There it is." Aipom said finally, pointing her arm towards the brush around the pond. "Home." Ralph looked at the area ahead.

"Which one?" He asked her.

"That large bush near the corner." She said. "Come on, we're nearly there now." She helped Ralph down the hill and led him to the lakes edge. It didn't take them too long, but Ralph's injuries were making it tough for him to keep going. Soon enough though they were by the waterside. The pond was clear and calm today, small ripples popping up in areas where magikarps poked out from for bare seconds. There didn't seem to be any other pokémon around, which was rather uncommon for an area like this. Aipom ditched Ralph for a second to run over to a large area of separated, isolated hedge. She moved the leaves aside and poked her head in. "Hey, Tangela. It's me, Aipom. I'm back." The hedge began to move slightly. Two large eyes shrouded in blackness poked out and stared back at the small monkey.

"Oh, Hi Aipom." It said cheerfully but with a lazy tone. It yawned slightly. "You've been gone a while. Did you get any food?" Aipom held out a handful of various berries.

"I found these." She said with a smile. "I'm not alone. I met this crobat guy while I was in the woods. He's a bit lost and injured. Is there room for him to rest in here?" She asked. Tangela glanced at Ralph and seemed to think.

"I dunno." He mumbled. "Is he safe?"

"I think so." Aipom told him. "He hasn't done anything dangerous so far." Tangela hummed.

"Alright." He told her. "But mind yourselves. There isn't much space in here." The leaves parted away as Tangela let them in. Aipom stepped forwards.

"Come on." She said, her tail patting Ralph's shoulder. "You can rest inside."

Ralph followed the small monkey into the large leafy hedge, crawling on his wings and staying down to he could actually get in. Even when he was scrunching himself up he was too big for the hedge. When he did get inside he was surprised to find the place was rather comfy. There was only one room and no furniture or anything like. This was a pokémon home after all, not a humans. But there were a collection of comfortable circular beds made from hay and dried grass reeds. There was no light except that coming through the small leave holes and from a tiny hole of water at the very back of the home. The pool seemed to be an escape route into the pond, probably where water pokémon could come in through. When Ralph had finally made it inside he was surprised to see a rather large collection of faces looking him back. As his eyes adjusted quickly to the light he was able to see what they were. There was tangela of course. He was sitting beside the small door he'd made, allowing Ralph and Aipom to enter. Aside from him there was also a bellsprout, a pineco, a poliwhirl and a tiny poliwag inside the hedge as well. They were all sitting or standing around in certain areas and all looking at him. Poliwag, who was clearly a baby, was bobbing up and down in the small water hole while his dad stood next to him. Each of them stared at Ralph, worried by him. Then pineco spoke up.

"Who's this?" It asked defensively.

"Just some pokémon I met in the woods." Aipom told it simply. "He's not dangerous."

"How do you know that?" Poliwhirl demanded. "He could be lying. He could choose to turn on us at any second."

"He's right." Bellsprout spoke up too. "He might even have friends.

"He was attacked." Aipom told them. "He's too weak to hurt us, even if he wanted too."

"Well what if whatever attacked him followed you?" Bellsprout demanded. "It could find us hiding here. It might attack!"

"I didn't see anything else while I was there, so I don't think it's likely we were followed." Aipom explained to her. "Look. He's totally safe, you guys. He just needs to rest for the night. After that he's going to leave to find his trainer."

"He's with humans!" Poliwhirl exclaimed with terror. "Why did you bring him in here? They might find him, then they'll catch all of us! I don't want my son around him! He's too dangerous."

"But Dad…!" Poliwag cooed upset. "He doesn't seem that bad."

"Stay out of this, junior!" Poliwhirl instructed sharply. Poliwag shrunk with disappointment, sinking a little in the water pool. "Why should we let him in if he could endanger my son? He doesn't even look nice. He has fangs!" Ralph glanced down at his own mouth, realising that it was open a little and his large vampire fangs were slightly visible. He closed his lips, hoping it might calm them down a little. Poliwhirl and bellsprout were still acting hostilely towards him.

"I'm not staying here if that thing over there is." The lanky root and bell plant pokémon said simply, a gallon of fear in her voice. "He'll drink our blood in our sleep!"

"Bellsprout, you don't have any blood in you!" Aipom reminded her. "You're in no danger of that."

"You understand what I mean." She told her. "He's too much of a danger to keep."

"But he hasn't attacked you yet." Tangela reminded her. "So he can't be that bad. Look at him. He's five times the size of you. If he wanted to he could eat us all whole at any point. But he hasn't, so I don't think it's likely he will." The room was silent.

"I think…" Pineco spoke up suddenly. "…That we should ask him whether he wants to stay here." Six pairs of eyes turned to Ralph, all looking at him patiently. Ralph looked back. He hadn't said anything since he'd entered the cramped home of theirs. Most of them didn't seem to like him, especially Poliwhirl who was glaring at him defensively. But Aipom, Tangela and Poliwag seemed to accept him. He could feel his muscles aching. He knew he need to get out and find Joe, but if he couldn't fly then how would he be able to.

"I just need to stay here one night." He explained to them simply. "Then I'll get out of your hair. I promise. I don't mean any harm to you. I just need somewhere to lie for the night." The six pokémon that lived in the hedge seemed to take in what he'd said and think about it.

"Well…" bellsprout muttered, curling her root legs up as she spoke. "I guess one night can't be to harmful."

"I guess so." Pineco agreed. "Besides, he seems nice enough. Maybe he won't eat us in the night." Poliwag splashed his tail with happiness. He seemed glad Ralph was staying. He seemed to like him for some reason. Poliwhirl however was very unhappy with this decision.

"How can you all just change your minds?" He demanded. "He should be thrown out straight away. How do we know he'll keep his promise and not attack us in the night?"

"Then I'll watch over him!" Aipom volunteered. This comment took poliwhirl by surprise.

"You?" He asked. "You're a scout, not a guard! If he decides to attack he'll crush you in seconds!"

"He won't attack me." She reassured him. "He's a nice pokémon." She gave a small smile in Ralph's direction. Ralph gave her a grateful smile back. Poliwhirl huffed annoyed.

"Fine." He groaned. "But if I wake up and my son's been mauled to death by that beast I know who to blame." Poliwhirl picked up his son and carried him away into a far end of the hedge home, hugging him close and curling up to rest. The other pokémon started doing the same. Tangela closed the leaf door he had made and looked apologetically at Ralph.

"Sorry about him." He muttered. "He's just rather protective over his son. I'm sure you understand."

"I do." Ralph told him. Tangela couldn't smile, so instead he nodded.

"That's good." He yawned, stretching his vine tentacles out. "Well, it's getting late and I'm tired. Have a goon rest you two." Tangela waddled on his small red feet to a corner bed of leaves and sat down on it, shutting his eyes and beginning to snore instantly. Bellsprout hung her head low.

"I-I'll trust you for now." She stuttered fearfully, glancing at Ralph. "I-I J-just hope that Aipom's not wrong about you." She waddled away to one of the beds and took root by it, hanging her head sleepily and shutting her eyes. Pineco didn't move or speak any further. He just sat where he had been, his eyes open but looking at nothing. Ralph was looking at him, confused if he was conscious or if he'd possibly passed on. Aipom saw his stare and smiled.

"Don't worry. He usually sleeps like that." She explained. Ralph seemed to relax again. He lay flat on the spare hay bed, curling up in his wings and shuffling till he was comfortable. Aipom lay on the one next to him. "So, crobat…?" She asked. "Are you dangerous?"

Ralph chuckled a little. "Only to bad people and pokémon." He answered.

"And do you meet many of them?" She asked.

"Yeah." Ralph told her. "All the time."

"So are most humans bad?" Aipom asked further. Ralph thought about his answer.

"No, not most of them." He explained. "But there are a lot of not very nice humans. Especially right now. There's a large group of them causing trouble in human cities at the moment." He paused. "My trainer and I are trying to sort all that out, actually." He smiled, remembering the times he and Joe had battled Team Rocket and won. Then he remembered the times they'd lost. The more recent times they'd lost.

"So you're a good pokémon?" She asked. Ralph shrugged.

"I guess." He told her. "We're fighting back for good reasons. But maybe we aren't always good." His response made Aipom nod in understanding.

"I can relate to that." She told him. "I've never met a human." She explained. "What's it like being a caught pokémon? Does it hurt when they catch you?"

Ralph chuckled a little. "No." He explained simply. "No, it doesn't hurt. It does feel weird though. It's like being shackled, but at the same time being given a limitless chain that goes on for ever."

"I don't think I understand." Aipom told him.

"Okay." Ralph tried to think of a description that would explain it to Aipom. "It's like knowing that someone owns you, that you are someone's property and you belong to them until they let you go…" He told her. "But, it's also like being given a kind friend who won't ever go away until they let you free. It's like being made a slave, but instead of being put in shackles and forced to work for nothing, you're given warm food, a nice house to live in, a collection of friends like you who will help you out, a kind father figure or mother figure depending on the trainers gender, a rewarding job that supplies a constant challenge…" He tailed of a little. "It's not something you can explain, but it's nothing as bad as you may think. I know that some people see pokeballs as tools of enslavement, but they're more like tools of welcoming into a new side of life." He paused.

"It doesn't sound that bad actually." Aipom said, in awe by his words.

Ralph shrugged. "To be fair, I've never known life outside of being a trainer's pokémon." He stopped. "I was born in captivity." He told her. "I've never been wild." Aipom gave a small gasp.

"So you've always belonged to someone?" She said. Ralph nodded. "That must be weird." She muttered. "Have you always belonged to the same trainer?" She asked. Ralph shook his head.

"No." He told her. "I was born maybe four, five years ago. I was the pet of a rocket boss." He explained. "I escaped half a year ago now. I met Joe in Kanto, the sister region to this one. Since then he's been my trainer and closest friend." He smiled a little. "He's a great kid. Maybe a bit too heroic for his own good, but a brave, intelligent, kind boy nonetheless."

Aipom smiled at him. "Sounds like a good friend." She told him.

Ralph nodded, his eyes falling tired. "Yeah." He agreed. "He is." He looked up at the entrance. It was starting to get darker outside. Night was arriving again. Hours must have passed by now. "He's probably out there right now." Ralph continued. "Looking for me."

* * *

"Ralph!" Joe cried, his hands to his mouth in a calling clasp. "Ralph!" His words echoes across the route. Nothing responded. Only the distant call of disturbed evening birds replied, cawing with annoyance. Joe wasn't giving up. He'd been gone for hours. The sun was falling over the horizon, but he wasn't giving up. He'd keep searching all night if he had to. He wasn't giving up on his friend. "Ralph!" Joe screamed. Several pidgey flew away from their home, frightened by his loud shouting. Joe sighed. There was no sign of his friend anywhere. He was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" Joe muttered, his concern for his friend the only think on his mind. Winter put a hand on his shoulder.

"Joe, it's starting to get dark." She told him. "You ought to rest for the night." Joe shrugged her off.

"I'm not giving up just yet." He told her simply. "I have to find him. He could be hurt."

"Ralph can take care of himself." Winter reminded him. "It's too dark to keep going. You need to rest. We can keep searching in the morning." Joe sighed. He didn't want to give up. He wanted to keep searching. If Ralph was still fighting that Nidoking which had charged him then he could be seriously hurt. But Winter was right. He couldn't do much if he was tired.

"Alright." He muttered reluctantly. "You're right. I'll rest for now."

Winter smiled at him. "Okay." She told him. "Silver's setting up the tents for us. Just come over whenever you're ready." She stepped away.

"Winter…" Joe said. She stopped and looked back at Joe. "If Ralph's hurt, I'm going to kill Team Ace!" He told her. She nodded back.

"If Ralph's hurt…" She responded to him. "Then I'll kill them myself."

* * *

The night passed over, and when Ralph awoke he could feel the ground shaking under him. He lay still, his eyes squinting with tiredness as he tried to understand what was going on. It wasn't an earthquake. The ground was shaking nearly enough for it to be that. Aipom woke up from the bed beside him.

"What's happening?" She asked. The ground continued to shake in short but strong intervals.

"I don't know." He said, his eyes opening properly and looking around. The other pokémon were awake now, moving about with curiosity. Tangela went up to the wall of leaves and peeked through it.

"What do you so, Tangela?" Aipom asked. Tangela didn't respond. After a few seconds he stepped back and closed the parting of leaves.

"I think we should all back up a little." He said quietly, glancing at Ralph from the corner of his eyes with a rather terrified expression. Ralph caught it, and looked back at the hedge wall. The quakes were getting stronger and stronger with every second. Quickly he realised there was also a new sound with them. The sound of heavy footsteps.

"What's going on, Tangela?" Bellsprout asked, scared for her life. "What's out there?"

Tangela backed away further. "You'll find out soon enough." He told her, his vines wrapping up tighter around his body.

Ralph glanced back at the grass wall. The shaking ground was so strong it was impossible to stand. The sound was so close it may as well have been next to his ears. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. The pokémon inside the hedge home all froze, unsure what to expect.

"I-is it gone?" Poliwag asked. There was nothing. Nobody moved. Then, without warning, the front of the hedge was ripped away completely. Bright sunlight blasted into the room like the explosion of a nuclear bomb. Bellsprout screamed. Aipom jumped back in surprise. Poliwhirl grabbed his son and held him close. From the gaping hole in the wall a large purple skinned head poked in. It glared evilly at all the pokémon inside before spotting Ralph. Its tiny eyes narrowed on him. The Nidoking had found him again.

Ralph new instantly all of them were in very serious trouble, so he did the only heroic thing he could. He launched himself quickly from the bed and tackled the purple monster. It stumbled back with surprise, Ralph grabbing its head with his wings and pushing it back out of the leafy home. Nidoking had no problem with getting him off. With one strike of its arm Ralph was dislodged and sent flying aside. He impacted on the ground, skidding with pain on his right wing. He rolled over and got ready to attack again.

"Crobat!" Aipom called, fearfully. "You shouldn't fight it. It's too strong for you. You'll get hurt again!" Ralph smiled back at her.

"I'll be fine." He told her. "I know this pokémon." He glanced back at Nidoking, and looked into its eyes. It had the same recognisable stare of hatred. Behind its pupils burned an invisible burning flame of impossible anger. This thing was more than a monster. It was a manmade monster. It was also a monster that Ralph recognised. He had battled it before, not too long ago now, and he had lost to it. "I know this pokémon." He told her.

Aipom looked confused. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Ralph didn't respond. Before he could Nidoking came charging at him, its horned head lowered and the spikes glowing brown-green. Ralph rolled aside, allowing it to rush past and do no harm to him. He took a second to push himself up. Then he took off, flying on his four wings, hovering above the ground again. He grinned to himself. He'd got his strength back at least. So now he had a chance at fighting it.

The Nidoking turned back around and growled at him. It charged back in, but instead of lowering its head down, it thrusted its chest forwards. It came rushing like a steam train towards the crobat. As it did Ralph shot aside to quickly for it to follow. But when it got to where it had been instead of rushing through it stopped. Then it began to thrash about, swinging its arms, head and tail wildly around in an attempt to hit anything around it. Its long tail ripped up more of the hedge, sending leaves flying. The pokémon inside cowered further in. Poliwag and Poliwhirl's eyes were poking out from the small water hole. One of Nidokings arms swung right past Ralph's face, barely skimming it. Ralph backed up again. This beast was starting to go wild, he realised. But maybe he would be able to use this to his advantage.

Ralph attacked again, swinging a steel wing up and slicing Nidoking up its spiky back. It groaned in surprise and stumbled forwards. It spun around again and faced its opponent, roaring wildly. The monster had no voice, just like houndoom had no voice. Neither of them were true pokémon anymore. They had been twisted and grown into monsters, not possible for them to be reverted back to normal. The only thing Ralph could do was fight it off, and even then it didn't seem like he'd be able to.

Nidoking tried to use another thrash on him, swinging his arms wildly in Ralph direction. Ralph clocked and dodged the attacks, but he was getting tired and with each block his wings would weaken. Finally Nidoking landed a strike against his chest, and the crobat fell from the air. He landed flat on his back, his wings curling up beside him. He tried to get back up, but suddenly Nidokings foot pressed on his open chest, holding him down. Ralph tried to push back, but Nidoking was too strong and too heavy. It had him pinned. It opened its mouth and gathered light. Ralph closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

But, to his surprise, it never came. As Nidoking was about to fire it was taken by surprise as a flurry of small white stars struck it in the head and knocked off its concentration. It turned towards its new attacker. Ralph also glanced in the direction of the attack. Aipom stood there in a battle stance, her tail hand open and ready for use in attack.

"Yeah, that's right, you big dumb beast! Look over here!" She shouted at it. Rlaph looked amazed.

"Aipom?" He called. "What are you doing? It'll kill you!"

"It'll kill you too if I don't help!" She told him quickly. "Now get up and fight!" Nidoking removed its foot from Ralph's chest and stomped away, turning on Aipom. The small monkey rushed it, moving agilely across the grass ground. She scurried up to its raising leg, grabbed it and climbed up, using her tail hand as a third arm. Nidoking tried to shake her off, but Aipom's grip was strong. She climbed quickly up to Nidokings chest, jumped the rest of the way and struck it in the face with a flurry of fury swipes. The large beast stumbled back, grabbing its face. Aipom dropped back to the ground and prepared to attack again. Ralph rolled aside as the giant pokémon nearly stood on him. Quickly he was back up himself.

Nidoking was distracted, so now was his chance. He flew up beside it, stopping next to its ear. And, with a heavy intake of breath, he released a high pitch screech into its giant rabbit-like earlobe.

* * *

Joe sat up, his sleeping bag falling down his chest and onto his lap. Everyone else sat up also. They had all heard it. A loud screeching in the distance.

"That's Ralph!" Joe muttered. A thankful smile grew on his face. "He's okay!" He got up and rushed out of the tent.

"Joe, wait." Winter called after him. But Joe didn't wait. He quickly jumped into his clothes and rushed of up the hillside. His pokémon was still out there. Ralph was okay. He couldn't be more thankful. His partner, his closest friend, was still okay!

* * *

"Aipom, look out!" Ralph called. Aipom jumped aside just as Nidoking swung its mighty arms in her direction. The beast had been deafened and confused by Ralph's screech directly into its ear. Now it was hindered and a little easier to land hits on. The only problem that had occurred from this was that now it was enraged. It was flailing its arms furiously, trying to hit anything nearby, even itself a few times.

"This thing's tough." Aipom muttered, sweating and breathing quickly.

"Yeah." Ralph agreed. "But we can still take it down." He glanced at the small monkey. "I have a plan." He explained. "But it'll put you in danger."

"I'm in danger no matter what I do here." She reminded him. "So tell me what to do." Ralph nodded.

"I need you to keep its attention of me and on you." He told her simply. "Do anything to it. Taunt it, Swift it, poke it with your tail. Just keep it focused on you."

"And what will you do?" She asked.

"I'll attack it from behind and try to take it out." He explained.

"Sounds like a plan to me." She told him.

"Aipom, be careful." Ralph said caringly. She smiled.

"Sure thing, bat guy!" She smiled cheekily. Then she rushed off, her movement a blur of agile primate, speeding towards the looking away Nidoking. She grabbed its tail, ran up it and began to climb up its back with effortless speed. Nidoking spun around, nearly shaking her off, but Aipom kept her grip. She reached its head, swung her tail in front of it, grabbed Nidokings horn and swung herself over. She dangled in front of its face like an ornament from a Christmas tree. "Hey, Ugly!" She shouted in its face. Nidoking stared back at her in surprise. He pulled back her two free arms. "Some scars will make you look pretty." She lashed out, swiping Nidoking in the face over and over. The monstrous beast yelled in pain, trying to swat her, but Aipom swung out of the way of its attacks. She swung herself back over its head. Her tail gripped Nidokings horn and never let go. She fled down and touched the ground again, landing safely on all fours. Nidoking wobbled then toppled, the sudden weight pulling it down onto its back. Aipom was never strong enough to pull it down herself. She knew that. But she also knew that Nidoking wouldn't have very good balance, especially after she'd attacked its face. So when she swung herself back over its back the force she'd made from pulling on its horn had caused its confused head to lift back, yanking it with her. That force alone would be enough to bring it down. She let go and rolled out of the way of the falling giant, letting it hit the ground with a thud. "Now, Crobat!" She called.

Nidoking sat up, rubbing its head, but before it could even tell what was going on it was attacked again. A purple form as big as it with four wings crashed into its chest, knocking it down again. Ralph pulled his wings back and slashed a cross poison across its body. Nidoking flinched. The attack hadn't done much, but it had kept it down. Nidoking groaned.

"I think you got it." Aipom muttered proudly. Ralph smiled back at her. Nidoking blinked. Ralph placed his wing against its collar and pressed it hard, using it as a knife to its throat. Nidoking attempted to move.

"Stay down!" Ralph instructed sternly. Nidoking stayed down. Ralph smiled at it. "Alright." He said. "Tell me. What are you doing out here, and where's your master?" He asked it.

Nidoking glared at him. "Why should I say?" It asked.

"Because I'll slice your head off if you don't." Ralph responded threateningly. Nidoking continued to glare.

"You don't have the strength to do that." It told him.

"I can certainly give it a damn good try!" Ralph told him. He pressed his wing edge harder into its neck. "Now I'll ask again. What are you doing out here attacking innocent people and pokémon, and where's your master right now?"

Nidoking laughed. "He abandoned us." It told him. "All of us. He had no further use for us, not since he got a hold of that legendary dragon thing he keeps locked up." Aipom gasped.

"Legendary dragon?" She repeated. She glanced at Ralph. "Who does this guy work for?"

"A very bad human." He explained. "The one my trainer and I are fighting against."

"You can't defeat him." Nidoking told them. "You may think you're strong. You're strong enough to beat me. But you aren't strong enough to defeat him." He cackled. "He'll get you, and he'll skin you like the animals you are!" Ralph pressed his wing harder.

"Tough talk for a pokémon that's pinned." Ralph reminded him.

Nidoking just laughed. "Remember when I crushed you and your friend on the Silph Co tower?" It told him, cackling evilly. "That was a great day. I never felt so much power, and you were so weak!"

"I'm not weak anymore." Ralph told him. "And neither are my friends." Ralph glared at the monster. "Now, cough up! Where is Archer?"

Nidoking smiled back at him. Behind Ralph something moved slightly. "You stupid crobat!" It coughed. "You can't see ten feet in front of you or five inches behind."

"What are you talking about?" Ralph asked.

"I would have though you've be more observant then you are." It grinned knowingly. "With all this tough talk you forgot one very important thing about me… I have a tail!"

Ralph was suddenly knocked aside by something long, purple and very powerful. He landed with a painful impact on the grass. Nidoking laughed, its tail slapping the air as it did so.

"You fool!" It roared. "You're still so weak, so easy to trick, so easy to take out! You are nothing!" It gathered light energy in its mouth.

"No!" Aipom screamed. She jumped at Nidoking, and Nidoking fired.

* * *

Joe saw the explosion of light from the hillside. He stopped, shielding his eyes. Something had used a hyper beam. He glanced into the distance, in the direction of the light itself. He could see a large, bulky, spike covered form looming over something of around the same size. Another, smaller thing fell limply from air in front of them.

"Ralph!" Joe gasped. The light faded, and he saw what it was attacking his friend. A Nidoking, and a very furious one at that. It was the same size as him, which was unusual for Nidokings. Joe felt that he recognised it somehow. It was the same kind of recognition he'd felt for the houndoom they'd battled in Mount Mortar. Ralph was getting back up now, swinging his wing forward to attack. Joe could hear his friends catching up. He kept running, concern for his pokémon fueling his legs to move.

 _'I'm coming buddy!'_ He thought, speeding across the high levelled grass. _'Just hold on! I'm coming!'_

* * *

"Aipom!" Ralph screamed. The small hand tailed monkey fell to the grass like a burned rag cloth. Nidoking groaned in pain.

"Little bitch!" It roared, rubbing its face. "She's given me scars." Joe glared at the beast above him. His eyes began to go red.

"You!" He growled, his voice low. Nidoking turned back to him.

"At least now it's just you and me." It roared.

Ralph swung out with his wing, aiming to strike its face. "You Monster!" He screeched. His wing slashed down on its face, causing a gaping wound. Nidoking yelled in pain. It stumbled back. Then it came lashing forwards with a glowing dark brown palm. The brick break missed as Ralph dodged to the side, rolling in the air as he did so and evading the attack. He lashed out again, this time with a steel wing. It struck Nidoking on the side. The giant poison ground pokémon spun around, lashing out with a swinging fist. But Ralph shot back, avoiding the attack again. He shot upwards, gaining height quick, then diving back down to strike with aerial force. He rammed into Nidokings chest, knocking it back a little. The overgrown rabbit was far from done yet. It gathered light into its mouth again. Ralph flew forwards once more, aimed like a purple missile. Nidoking fired, releasing a blooming beam of white light out from its mouth. The attack charred the grass field as it passed over, igniting all the short reeds under it. But when the attack faded Ralph barely had a scratch. He'd evaded the attack just in time, taking not so much as a small bruise, but the light had stopped Nidoking from noticing he was no longer there. Now the brute was left weak and open for attack. And Ralph finished it off. With a heavy blast of air he knocked the pokémon off its feet. Nidoking landed back on the ground with a thud. The hyper beam had sapped all its energy away, leaving it defenceless as Ralph struck it down. The crobat grabbed the beast by the ears and pulled his head back.

"And now you stay down!" He growled. Then he swung his head in. For Nidoking all the lights went out. The sun was gone, the sky was black, the ground was nothingness. Everything stopped and vanished within a second. The mighty pokémon collapsed, unconscious. Ralph let go and pulled away. He was breathing heavily and feeling exhausted from the battle, but he was victorious. Nidoking had been vanquished. It was a long waiting revenge. Then he remembered. "Aipom!" He realised. He looked around and spotted the small monkey pokémon lying curled up near the destroyed hedge home. Quickly he flew over, kneeling down beside her. She wasn't moving. "Oh no." Ralph muttered, putting a wing to her forehead. It was still warm. So that meant she was still alive. He sighed with relief. At least she was still alive. Slowly her eyes opened again, looking up at him.

"Crobat?" She asked. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine." He told her. "Why did you do that? You could have been killed!"

Aipom coughed and smiled weakly. "You needed the help." She told him. "So I helped. It worked, didn't it?" Ralph glanced back at the unconscious Nidoking.

"Yeah. It did." He agreed. He smiled back at her. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

"Oh yeah." She told him positively. "I've had worse, trust me." She chuckled a little. Together they glanced back at the hedge. "That thing really did a number on the hedge." She muttered. From inside the other pokémon looked out, their terrified eyes watching them. "We'll probably have to move now. This place isn't safe."

"Will you be okay?" He asked, worried for the small family. Aipom shrugged.

"I think we will." She said, but uncertainly. "We've moved before, but this place seemed like the perfect location for us all. It'll be tough to find another like it. But we can do it." The other pokémon looked back at her, smiles on their faces.

"What are you going to do about Nidoking?" Ralph asked. They looked at the purple beast. It was snoring tiredly.

"You just leave that to us." Tangela said suddenly. Ralph and Aipom turned back. He, Poliwhirl and Bellsprout had walked out from their home, looking angry. "We know exactly how to deal with him." He said sinisterly.

Poliwhirl cracked his knuckled. "Bellsprout, Tangela, take his legs. I'll carry his tail." The three pokémon took hold of their specific Nidoking body part and began dragging it away from the hedge, towards the woods.

"I think we won't see him again." Aipom told Ralph with a smile.

"I hope not." Ralph agreed. They chuckled and watched the other pokémon drag the giant away. Suddenly Aipom frowned.

"What's that?" She asked.

"What's what?" Ralph asked. Aipom scurried forwards to where Nidoking had been lying. Its body imprint had been forced onto the grassy ground. She picked something up with her small hand and looked at it.

"Looks like some kind of paper." She told him, turning. "There's a weird scrawling on it. I can't read it."

"Let me see."

"You don't have any hands."

"Then show me it."

Aipom held out the small tag in front of Ralph's face. The young crobat read the tag. His expression dropped in horrible realisation.

* * *

"Ralph! Oh my god, you're okay!" Joe embraced his friend tightly, hugging him like a brother he hadn't seen in ages. "Are you okay?" He began to fuss.

"Cro." Ralph told him simply. He still looked unhappy. The news he'd found out was rather grim. Joe looked at him, quickly becoming concerned.

"Ralph, what's wrong?" He asked. Ralph looked away. Joe wasn't going to like it. "Ralph?" Joe asked again. "What happened? Where were you?"

"Cro." Ralph said simply.

"I don't understand Cro!" Joe snapped a little. He inhaled and composed himself again. "Sorry. I was really worried about you. I thought that thing might have killed you. I'm just happy it didn't okay." Joe smiled a little. "I bet you're tired though. If we hurry back to the others I'm sure we can get you something to eat. Maybe some berries or something?" Ralph stayed quiet. Wordlessly he opened his mouth and pushed a small paper and plastic tag out with his tongue, pinching it between his fangs. "What's that?" Joe asked. Ralph said nothing. Joe took the slip and read it. His face went white. "No." He muttered. "But this is…" Ralph nodded. Joe's breathing sped up a little. This was very bad. Very bad.

"You found Ralph!" Winter exclaimed as she and Silver finally caught up to them. Joe turned slowly, his expression still of shocked horror. She frowned. "What is it?" She asked. Joe held out the wet tag.

"Read it." He told her. Winter took the tag and she and Silver read it. When she looked up again she was confused.

"I don't understand?" She said.

"I don't expect you to." Joe told her, taking the tag back and looking again. "You weren't with me long enough to understand. Neither you nor Silver." He paused. "This is the same tag Ralph had on him when we first met, and the same number code, bar the last two." Winter's eyes widened. They all looked down at the tag in Joe's hand. It read 'N18: Goliath' and after all that was an A Insignia... for Archer.


	28. Chapter 28: Ice Path

"I don't think I understand." Silver said, trying to figure out everything Joe and Winter had just told him. "You're saying that, when you first met Ralph, he had a tag like this one on him, except there weren't any numbers on it, nor the insignia."

"Yes." Joe told him. "That part seemed to have been ripped off."

"And, if I'm understanding correctly, after you battled a couple of Rocket grunts at Vermillion pokémon centre and you'd battled the Pewter City gym leaders, you started having weird dreams of a shadowed man." Silver repeated what he'd been told in his own words.

"That's correct." Joe told him.

"And then…" Silver continued. "You ran into Team Rocket's Commander, Cheng, who later turns out to be your father."

"Yes."

"And then you keep running into him."

"Yes."

"And you run into other commanders."

"Two others."

"And, as you, Winter and your other friend, Rocky, are continuing to travel around Kanto, you have more dreams… except they're start to become more like visions."

"Yes."

"And then you're confronted by Archer, Team Rocket's big boss, on top of the Silph Co building."

"Well, we confronted him." Winter corrected him.

"And he defeats you…" Silver continued.

"Yes." Joe said.

"With the Nidoking that attacked Ralph…"

"Yes."

"And possibly that houndoom that attacked us in Mount Mortar?"

"Maybe."

And it turns out that Mew is the one sending you these dreams…"

"Yes."

"And it turns out that Giovanni is helping you, too."

"Were you even listening to me a second ago?" Joe interrupted, getting impatient with his reciting.

"Just give me a second." Silver told him. He was counting on his fingers, looking puzzled as he did so. "And then it turns out that this boy, Samuel or something, has been following you over Kanto and is also Giovanni's apprentice. Then it turns out that Ralph is one of Giovanni's pokémon who was released. Then it turns out Archer used to work with Giovanni but split off after Giovanni stopped wanting to be an evil person…"

"Just get to the point already!" Joe snapped.

Silver paused.

"So, what I'm confused by…" He said slowly. "Is… what the hell does this tag actually mean?"

Joe punched the ground angrily where he was sitting.

"That's what we're bloody asking!" He snapped.

"Joe." Winter said calmly. The boy inhaled deeply.

"Sorry." He muttered. Silver made a surprised face.

"Didn't expect you to react like that." He muttered to himself.

Joe stood up, dusting specs of ground of his legs. He turned and looked up at the path ahead of them. A cave entrance was poking out from the short mountainside ahead. It was the only way on to Blackthorn city. If they were to get there they'd have to enter it. The entrance was covered in frost, and a cold breeze seemed to be escaping from within, creating a billowing hollow groaning call. He blinked slowly.

"I don't understand it." He muttered, just loud enough for the others to hear him. "It makes no sense. So Archer made his own genetically enhanced pokémon. Why? Since when did Team Rocket ever have access to that kind of technology?" He pondered.

"Archer did have that power glove." Winter reminded him. "The PMED, or something like that. But he had that at a time when Team Rocket was still regrouping. Maybe they had access to more in the past. You said in one of your dreams Giovanni mentioned cloning a crobat that looked similar to Ralph and naming him that." Joe glanced back at her. "Maybe they did something similar with other pokémon." She suggested. Joe shrugged.

"Maybe." He agreed. "But… well, I'm confused." He told them. "Why would Archer want to throw away his pokémon? I mean, they were his pokémon. I'd recognise that Nidoking anywhere. Only he had one that strong." He paused. "None of this makes any sense anymore." He explained. "Why would he kidnap a legendary pokémon but not openly use it? Why would he throw his own pokémon away? Why would my father thing he's searching for some mythological 'Great Destroyer?" He scoffed. "Even if something like that did exist, and no one had ever found it, how would Archer do so? Could he even do so?" Joe glanced to Ralph. "What's your say on this, Ralph?" He asked

Ralph looked up slowly. He was sitting to the side of the group, looking at the ground and thinking to himself. His mind had still been focused on earlier that morning, when he and the wild Aipom who'd helped him out had to battle Nidoking. He wondered what would happen to her now, and her family of defenceless pokémon. Where would they go? Were they able to dispose of that Nidoking? He sighed. He wished he could have left them on better terms, but after finding that tag he knew he'd had to show it to Joe quickly. His friend deserved to know. Aipom had been kind to him, even though half her family had wanted to throw him out. She said a nice thankyou as he'd left, a thanks for helping defend her family. A part of him felt that he'd miss her. She had spirit, a lot of it. The kind that most pokémon trainers would kill to see in there pokémon. He hoped she was safe, that she was happy wherever she ended up next. A small part of him hoped that, someday, he might see here again. He hadn't wanted to end up in a fight a Nidoking that day, but if he hadn't he wouldn't have made a new friend. It was at this point in his train of thought that he realised Joe had asked him something. He looked up?

"Cro?" He asked.

"I just asked what you think on this tag thing." Joe asked him. Ralph looked at the tag in his trainer's hand, the one he'd taken from Nidoking. He looked back and shrugged unsurely.

"You said Cheng seemed very serious when he told you about it." Winter reminded them, speaking up suddenly. "He told you he was trying to be a better parent, so maybe he really isn't joking about this. Maybe there actually is some great destroyer here in the Johto region." Joe looked at her, stunned.

"You can't seriously believe that may be real." He said. "He said Archer is searching for it, but Archer's mad! It might never have even existed!"

"I don't know any more than you, Joe." Winter said calmly. "I'm just suggesting…"

"Well don't!" Joe interrupted her. There was silence for a while. Winter sat back again, seemingly deflated.

"Sorry." She muttered. Silver glanced between the two of them, not too sure why Joe was angry. He decided, wisely, to stay out of it. Joe closed his eyes, scolding himself for his attitude.

"I don't know what to think of this." He said simply. He held up the tag, looking at it thoughtfully. "But I know that we need to keep going." He continued. He turned back to the icy cave ahead. "Blackthorn City's just through there." He told them. "Once we're done with the gym there, we can move on and confront Archer, before he pulls off whatever plan he has in mind."

"If he hasn't already done so before then." Silver interrupted. Joe gave him a cold stare, almost as cold as the frost around the cave path's entrance. The redhead boy fell quiet again.

"Then we'd best hurry before they do." Joe continued. "You can either stay here, or you can come with me. Either way I'm moving on." He glanced back. "You coming Ralph?" He asked. Ralph nodded uncertainly. He glanced at Winter, who was clearly a little upset, before getting back up into the air and flying over to Joe's side. The trainer patted him on the back. "Good boy." He said warmly. They walked away, heading towards the ice path. Joe glanced back, feeling a little bad that he'd snapped at his oldest friend. But he had to shrug it off. All that mattered right now was getting to Blackthorn City, defeating the gym leader and then finding out where Archer was and what he was planning. He kept walking, Ralph still by his side, looking rather concerned for him.

Winter sighed. She was still feeling quite hurt that Joe had snapped at her. She knew he was probably under stress knowing what he'd just learned, added in with the recent reappearance of his long lost father. But he didn't need to take it out on her. She decided it was best to shrug it off. It was only a snap. It probably wouldn't happen again. Silver stood up, seeming rather lost and confused. He turned to follow after Joe, but stopped for a second to offer winter a hand up. She took it, smiling weakly.

"Thank you." She muttered.

"Don't worry about it." He told her. He glanced back at Joe. "It's probably best we give him a bit of space for now." He told her. "He's probably very tired." Winter nodded in agreement.

"You're right." She said. "He has been running around all day looking for Ralph. He just needs a rest. And when we get to Blackthorn city we can have that." She had to admit it was weird being told something reasonably smart by Silver. She could only hope this was him getting smarter, and not her getting dumber. With a short sigh she followed after them.

* * *

It didn't take them too long to reach the entrance to the ice path, two minutes at most. But when they did reach it they regretted the fact that they weren't wearing arctic clothing. The cave was freezing, more so then Pryce's gym had been. In fact it was the coldest place any of them had been in in their entire lives. Even Winter, with here long comfortable green coat found herself shivering seconds after they entered. Joe folded his arms and rubbed his hands together to create some form of heat.

"W-well, w-what are we w-waiting for?" He shivered. "We should g-get going, before we f-f-freeze to death in here."

"We'll probably get u-used to it soon en-n-nough." Winter told him.

"I h-hope so." Silver said, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. "I don't think I c-could stand walking in this c-cold."

They continued their walk into the cave, and sure enough it turned out that Winter had not been wrong. It didn't take them long to adjust to the climate inside the winding cavern. As they walked they found that most of the cave was quite thin. There were no winding areas of tunnel like there had been in the other caves they'd travelled through. It was all just one long winding path ahead. Some small parts of the cave were covered in ice, with large boulders placed on it at random points. Thankfully on the first floor these icy parts weren't necessary to travel across. However when they got down to the second level down they were confronted by a giant lake of ice, directly in front of them. Joe was the last one down the ladder, Ralph following after him, still shivering. His body was taking longer to adjust to the cold but it was slowly getting there. Joe stepped of the ladder, turned, and groaned. The entire room was covered from floor to roof in ice. It was like someone had thrown a bucket full of water at the coldest point on the world, and the water had frozen almost instantly. The three trainers looked at the huge rock room. There seemed to be another area of cave to the east side, but getting there would be really tough.

"What do we do now?" Silver muttered.

"We skate across." Winter told them simply. Silver looked at her.

"You're not serious?" He demanded. "Can any of us skate? And with what, I might add?"

"You could always try running across." She said, giving him a slightly spiteful glance. Silver glared back.

"Alright." He agreed. "But I'm not planning to break any bones today, so if we can go slowly…"

"Can we just get going?" Joe asked. They looked back at him. Then they shrugged. "Maybe we could use fire to clear a path." Joe suggested.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Winter told him. "You might melt the whole place down."

"Not if it's a controlled, small amount of fire." Joe said. "If we did that we could melt away a small path for us to safely walk on."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Silver agreed. "Let's do it."

"I still wouldn't…" Winter tried to say, but she was ignored yet again. The boys were already acting out their plan. Joe's newly evolved Typhlosion, Quill, jumped out of its pokeball and appeared on the small area of dry rock ground, looking excited to be given some freedom once again.

"Quill, could you melt a path to that boulder just there?" Joe asked, pointing at the closest boulder on the east side of the ice, dotting a line of them leading ahead. Quill looked at the boulder, then turned back and nodded. "Good." Joe pointed a finger to the icy ground ahead. "Use flamethrower!" He instructed. Quill blasted a pillar of heat at the floor ahead of him. The icy floor evaporated in half a second, leaving a thin dry stone path a few feet ahead for them to follow. "Good work." Joe told him. "Now just keep going till we get there." Quill waddled quickly to the end of the new path and performed another flamethrower, melting more ice ahead and leading the path onwards. Joe followed behind him, with Ralph close beside, followed by Silver behind and Winter at the back. She was still pretty uncertain about what they were doing.

"I don't think we should do this." She said. Silver scoffed.

"It's just ice, Winter." He told her a little mockingly. "I mean, if we don't step on it what's it going to do back?"

What Silver didn't realise, because he was so thick skulled, narrow minded and visually unaware, was that there were wild pokémon that lived in the caves too. There were more than just the occasional zubat that would flap by, screeching to gain an echo located view of the cave. There were other pokémon in there too, ones that enjoyed the ice and were quite happy to keep it in a not melted state. And a few off those pokémon had just woken up, seen what the humans who had entered their home were doing, and were pretty unhappy about it. They planned revenge, and didn't take long to act it out.

"We're nearly there." Joe said, as they closed in on the boulder they'd been trying to reach. Quill was only a metre away from it now. His flamethrower would melt that ground away with ease. He was just taking a quick breather to get his energy back. "You ready to keep going?" Joe asked the large fire mole pokémon he owned. His typhlosion nodded, inhaling the cold cave air deeply. Small wisps of smoke escaped from his mouth. "You've got this, buddy." Joe told him. He took a step back. "Watch it, Ralph." He said, turning to his companion. "You don't want to get in the way of the fire." Ralph nodded in agreement, shuffling backwards in the air.

"Once we get past this rock, we should be able to get across to the other side." Silver said. "Then we can keep going through the tunnel and hopefully out the other side."

"I still think it wouldn't been quicker to try and skate across." Winter said, unheard.

"You can still try." Silver told her. "Unless you don't want to break you ankles." Winter scowled.

"Oh shut up, Silver." She muttered.

"Sorry." Silver said back, a small cheeky grin on his face. "I was just trying to…" He stopped. Winter looked at him.

"Trying to what?" She asked. Silver didn't respond. He stopped walking, causing her to fall to a halt. "What are you doing?" She asked, slightly demandingly. Silver had his ears keen. He seemed to have heard something. Then Winter realised that she too could hear something. It sounded like something climbing, maybe crawling across some kind of Ice surface. But as she looked around she saw nothing, bar the occasional zubat or golbat in the distance. Nothing that could make that sound. "What is that?" She whispered curiously.

"I don't know." Silver responded, his voice quiet too. A few small specs of frost fell down on top of them, showering them in a small cloud of dandruff-like cold. Suddenly they realised where the sound was coming from. Together they glanced upward, towards to roof. Several dark skinned forms were hanging from the small icicles and rocky cracks above them. They had big keen eyes, large pointy ears and sharp white two fingered clawed feet and hands. They stared down at the human children bellow them, two of which were staring back. Then they let go of the ceiling, and dropped down on top of them.

Winter exclaimed as one of them slashed at her, cutting her fringe slightly with a sharp claw. She fell backwards, falling onto the ice and sliding for a few feet on her back. Silver stumbled back, his hand reaching for a pokeball. His left foot stepped on the ice floor and he nearly slipped as he tried to gain balance. The ground was frictionless, so much so his legs may as well have been wheels. Joe spun around, spotting his friends tumble and the multiple black skinned pokémon land beside them, their clawed feet stopping them from sliding on the ice. His brain gave him no time to act. He saw Winter fall, he saw the pokémon attack her, then turn on Silver, and his moth acted for him.

"Hey!" He shouted. All six of the pokémon glared at him, their mean eyes narrowing, and the red ovals on their foreheads shimmering in the icy light of the cave. Joe glared back, trying to show them that he wasn't to be medalled with. "Leave them alone!" He bellowed. The six pokémon looked at each other. Then they smiled mischievously.

Two of them broke off from the group, rushing at Joe to attack him. They quickly found however that he was not undefended. They had failed to notice Ralph flying beside him. With a strike of his wing the two icy pokémon went skidding backwards, falling flat and sliding across the ice. The other four pokémon looked surprised. Quickly they turned, leaving Silver and Winter alone and instead going for the bigger, tougher target. They rushed Joe and Ralph, jumping and lunging with open claws. Two of them managed to grapple Ralph, their sharp claws piercing his shoulder skin. He yelled in pain, spinning on the spot, trying to shake them off again. He succeeded, sending the fast little pokémon flying across the ice.

The other two attacked again, this time lunging at Joe. He was lucky enough to dodge one of them, but the second one caught hold of his hood and pulled him down, smacking his head on the ice with a painful thud. He slid back across the floor, lying in a small curled up form. The pokémon skidded with him, eventually letting go and skidding to a halt, using its claw as a sharp anchor. It glanced up, saw the unmoving trainer and rushed in again to finish him off. Inches away from its target it was struck in the side by a large purple wing, and was sent flying to the side, where it struck a frosted boulder, Ralph floated above his friend, defending him from the attackers. Joe still didn't move.

"Joe!" Winter cried. She crawled onto her feet and tried running over to him. It ended up being a skid, as she was unable to wall without slipping up a little. She made it over to his side as quickly as she could. Silver attempted to help Ralph in holding the pokémon back, releasing his Magnemite to send out a few thunder waves.

"What are these things?" Winter asked, as one of the black skinned pokémon lunged past her, aiming its claws at her throat and fortunately missing.

"Sneasel!" Silver exclaimed, Magnemite zapping one of the pokémon that tried to get closer and leaving it to convulse with electronic static. "They usually live in cold climates like this, but they tend not to randomly attack humans. We must have done something to set them off."

Winter sighed, glancing at the melted path they'd made, that Quill had only just finished off. "I have a pretty good idea what." She muttered, knowing she'd been right in her belief. She slipped don't her knees, sliding under another lunge from a now tiring sneasel and quickly making her way to Joe's side. Ralph covered her back, striking the sneasel attacking her away with an accurate steel wing. This time the sneasel did not come back to attack again. "Joe!" She exclaimed, rolling her friend onto his back. He had a small trail of blood coming from a tiny gash on the side of his forehead. It wasn't serious looking, but was a little worrying. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving. She rested his head under her arms and shook him, trying to weak him up. "Joe, come on!" She yelled. Joe didn't wake. She put a hand to his neck. She could feel a pulse, and he was still breathing. He was just unconscious. That was a mild relief, but now someone would have to carry him.

Quill turned around, having reached the boulder using his flamethrower and finally he realised what was going on. Without instruction he curled up into a ball form and set himself alight, rolling in a rampage towards the crowd of Sneasel. All of them turned at the sound of his approach. The ice melted under his massive form, crushed up by his weight and evaporated by his heat. The brave sneasel stayed, determined to fight further. But the more popular cowardly sneasel turned tails and bolted, running away from the inferno steamrolling very quickly towards them. Quill was a rampage. He left no one spared. One by one he ran down and crushed the sneasel in his wake. Woe betide anyone who would attack his trainer, or his friends. When Quill was done he turned back around and waddled over on all fours back to his trainers side, leaving only a trail of melted ice and unconscious ice pokémon (and a few unlucky members of the zubat family) lying on the ground where they'd been struck. Silver whistled in amazement.

"I cannot believe I ever gave you up." He muttered as Quill walked past. The typhlosion gave his previous owner a disrespectful and slightly hateful grunt. Silver shrugged. "Well, there's no need to be like that." He muttered. Quill rolled his eyes and kept walking, heading back to his trainer. Joe still hadn't woken, and Winter was getting worried. She'd relieved him of his back, so he could lie down properly. Casey had struggled out of it, having nearly been crushed as Joe fell on it, and was standing by Winter, looking over his trainer. Casey couldn't understand why he wasn't responding. His mind was too young to understand fainting, or unconsciousness. This trainer not responding to his calls was beginning to make him cry. Winter comforted the young togepi, cuddling him to her chest as she knelt beside her friend. Ralph seemed the second most concerned of them all. He wasn't as upset as Casey, nor as worried as Winter, but he was mostly feeling lost. He had a horrible dread that, if he wasn't helped soon, Joe may never awake again. He wasn't going to watch that happen.

"Come on, Joe!" Winter insisted, shaking her friends shoulder. "Please wake up! You can't leave us! You can't leave me! I need you!" Joe didn't stir. She sniffed a little. She could tell if it as because of the cold or because she was close to crying, but she wiped her eyes, shaking a little.

"Winter, he's not going to respond." Silver told her, not emotionally sensitive in the slightest.

"I'm not…" She struggled to say, her voice wavering as emotions wracked her. "He must… has to wake up!"

"He's out cold." Silver said. "And that's no pun intended. We need to move him somewhere safe and less slippery." He explained, kneeling beside her. "We can try and wake him then." Winter sighed. He was right. Goddamn it, Silver was right again.

"Alright." She agreed. She stood up and turned to Quill. "Could you melt us a path across?" She asked. Quill nodded, and immediately set to work. He took a few steps ahead so that the trainers wouldn't get scorched by backlashing heat, and used his flamethrower to quickly melt them a path across. Winter turned to Ralph. "Keep an eye out for more of those pokémon." She instructed. Ralph nodded. He wanted to see his trainer safe just as much as she did. He would defend him past his dying breath and beyond the grave if he had to. Casey was still sobbing by Joe's side. Carefully Winter lifted him up and placed him into her bag for now, so he could be safe and out of any danger. She knelt down again and looked up at Silver. "You take his legs, I'll take his shoulders." She instructed. She got no response. "What are you waiting for?" She asked. Still Silver said nothing. There was the sound of a pokeball popping open and releasing its red beam. Winter looked up again. Silver was standing a few metres away, looking down on the sneasel he had paralysed. The empty pokeball he'd just thrown engulfed it in a red beam and sucked it in, snapping shut again. "What are you doing?" She asked angrily.

"Just catching a sixth pokémon." He told her, picking up the pokeball again. It snapped shut for good, the wriggling stopping as the pokémon inside gave up its struggle. "Now I have a full team finally." He muttered with a smile. Winter continued to stare at him.

"Our friend is unconscious! He may have seriously damaged his head, and you're busy catching pokémon!" Silver glanced back at her a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, but I couldn't let this chance get away." He told her. "I mean, it was paralysed. It was perfect for the taking."

"Your friend, one of the only ones you have, in unconscious and freezing on the floor!" She reminded him. "Now, if you ever want to see him awake again, help me bloody carry him!" Silver sighed.

"Alright." He muttered, walking over and grabbing Joe's feet. "I was going to help anyway." He helped the orange haired girl lift the brown haired hat wearing boy up into the air, holding him by their assigned body parts. "This is just like that time he and you had to carry me when I was unconscious." He reminded her as they started walking across the dry area of ground Quill had made for them. Winter glared slightly at him.

"That was back when we barely knew you." She reminded him.

"You could have decided to leave me there." He told her straightforwardly.

"But we didn't." She said. "Even though we may have wanted to. You were hurt. We couldn't leave you alone in the woods like that."

"If you had, I wouldn't be here to help you now." He added. She stared at him.

"Just help me carry him, Silver." She muttered.

* * *

Eventually they reached the other side, laying Joe down by the tunnel entrance and taking a quick second to rest. For a teenage boy he was quite heavy. Winter was surprised by that. Still, at least she'd been holding his upper body. She and Silver rested their friend on the cold ground, taking a moment themselves to sit down, their backs against the icy rock walls. They were tired already, mainly because they'd been carrying Joe across the ice, but also because they hadn't had much of a rest. It wasn't easy sleeping outside. There was always something making noise around you. The cave wasn't much quieter. There was the background sound of zubat screeches and in the far distance something moving around. Winter wiped her forehead, shivering in her coat. It was getting colder somehow. She was mainly trying to stay warm now. Her legs were aching, and her lungs were begging for clean open air, but most off all she wanted warmth. Silver sat down a foot away from her, allowing her space.

"What a trek this has proved to be." He muttered.

Winter scoffed. "No kidding." She muttered. "Talk about cold! I thought the see in December was cold, but this is awful." She shivered a little more under her jacket.

"Why did we have to come this way?" Silver muttered, shivering. "Surely there was another path around or over the hills."

"We need to get to Blackthorn city quickly." She responded automatically. "This is the fastest way through."

"You sound like him when you say that." He said, nodding to their unconscious friend, who was lying next to her. She felt a little depressed by that comment.

"I guess he's had some influence on me then." She muttered, unsure what she could say in response.

Silver shrugged. "Maybe he has." He muttered. Quill curled up beside Joe, flaring up a little to keep him warm but being careful not to burn him at the same time. Ralph sat down beside Winter, seeming just as worried as she was. He never took his eyes away from his trainer, checking that he was constantly okay. Silver shifted where he sat. "Could I ask you something?" he asked suddenly. Winter glanced at him.

"It depends what." She said simply. Silver shrugged.

"I just wanted to ask how you and he met." He said.

"I thought you already knew how we met." She said.

"He told me, yes." Silver agreed. "But I'd like to hear your version."

Winter looked at him. Then she shrugged herself. "It feels like forever ago now." She admitted. "I was outside of Viridian City, doing a bit of light fishing at one of the small ponds, when I was suddenly knocked over and dragged along by a massive ball of two bodies." She chuckled a little. "When it finally stopped I found myself lying against the walls to Viridian City, and two others were with me. One of them was Ralph. He was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes again, because he was on top of me. And the other was Joe. He apologised, although I remember not having any of that. I remember being angry at him for crushing me the way he had." She paused for a second, feeling a little embarrassed she'd gone into it in so much detail. "Then we headed off to the pokémon centre. He had no idea where he was going, so I took him to it. We got our pokémon healed up, but as we did so the centre was attacked by two team rocket thieves. They locked us up in a janitor's closet." From the side she heard Silver chuckle a little. She glared at him. "Stop it." She snapped. "Anyway, after a while of trying to escape, he seemed to be hurt. He told me a beedrill had stung his arm, so I helped heal it up. After that, well… we just seemed to click. I don't know how to explain it, but after that we didn't snap at each other once." She fell quiet.

"It sounds like there's something else." Silver told her, a meaning to his words for once. She glanced at him.

"What?" She asked quietly.

"You sound regretful." He told her. "Why?" Winter looked at the floor, uncertain herself by what she felt.

"I don't know." She told him.

"I think you're lying." He said simply. She glanced back at him.

"What would I lie to you about?" She demanded. "I don't lie to people. There's no point to it."

"But you lie to yourself." Silver told her. She looked confused.

"What are you on about?" She asked.

"Winter, I'm sorry but it's obvious." He stated simply.

"What is?" She demanded.

"You…" He glanced at Joe. "And him." Winter was getting annoyed now.

"What are you trying to say, Silver?" She asked. Silver sighed.

"Oh for lord Arceus's sake, Winter. It's so obvious!" He snapped. "You. Like. Him." He said those three words so slowly he practically spelt them out. Winter's eyes opened wider.

"I don't!" She snapped. "I don't feel anything like that." She bit her lip a little, glancing at her unconscious friend for a split second. Silver folded his arms.

"See. You're lying to yourself." He told her.

"Just drop it!" She snapped, looking away to hide her slight blushes.

"Why haven't you just told him?" He asked her. She looked back, angry at him.

"And what would I say?" She asked. "How would he take it if I did say anything? How do I even know what he feels? What if he just stops wanting to talk to me?"

"You're thinking to cruelly." Silver told her simply. "He's your friend already, isn't he?" He stated. "So, if you did ask and he said no, why would that destroy your friendship?" Winter fell quiet. She didn't know what to say. "You just need to be confident and say something. You don't have to say it bluntly, you can do it subtly if that's easier. But either way saying nothing is just lying to yourself."

"And who suddenly made you the relationship specialist?" She demanded, turning on him suddenly. "How many people have you liked before? And where is that girl you were with now? Have you seen much of her recently?" Here words were colder than the cave they were in. Silver didn't say anything. He just sat staring at her. Winter sighed. "I'm sorry." She muttered apologetically. "That was a bit too harsh of me." Silver just sat back against the rock, looking hurt and glaring at her.

"Maybe he's rubbing of on you more then you know." He muttered. "You're even starting to sound like him."

Winter looked down at the cold floor. He was right. That was something Joe would have said, except he wouldn't have said it so cruelly. He'd have just used it as some kind of throwaway insult. What was happening to her? Why was she acting like this? Everything that was going on was beginning to get to her, and not just her. She, Joe and Silver were all under stress. Team Rocket were still around, and their heads were on their target list. Maybe she was still upset after Joe had snapped at her. It wasn't the fact that he'd got angry that upset her. It was the fact he didn't apologise afterwards. He'd just shrugged it off, as if it was nothing. Was that what he really thought of their friendship? Winter glanced at him now. He was still lying on the ground beside her, Quill curled up around him, his neck flames alight and pumping heat, melting the area of ice around him. She sighed. She hoped he was okay. She needed him to be okay. She couldn't live another day not knowing he wasn't alright.

* * *

In the darkness Joe's mind was awake, fully open eyes staring into nothing. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He was practically paralysed from the neck down. And in his ears he heard a voice. No, that wasn't right. It wasn't one voice he could hear. It was three voices. He realised that what he was hearing was in fact a heated discussion. He tried to look around, but his head wouldn't move. He tried to call out but his mouth would not open. All he could do was lie there, in the darkness of unconsciousness. And then the voices began to grow louder. It wasn't like they were getting closer. It was more like someone had just turned up the volume of them, like the sound on a TV. And now he could figure out what they were saying.

"Do you think the boy's ready?" One asked, a slightly effeminate voice that had a slight wispy rattle to it, like wind blowing through grass.

"I think he's been ready for a long time." Another, much higher pitched and childlike voice said. Joe recognised this one. It was Mew. He thought Mew had promised not to give him any more visions. Unless maybe this wasn't a vision. A third voice spoke up now, except this one didn't just sound childlike. This voice sounded like an actual ten year old child was speaking.

"When the time comes he will prove himself." It said. "They all will. I can read his thoughts. He is a good person. He will win this fight."

"But suppose he doesn't." The wispy voice suggested. "Then what? The bad man will destroy everything we know. He'll hunt us down, cripple us and most likely have some scientist somewhere experiment on us."

"Calm down, Celebi." Mew said in a calming voice. "That's why you are hear. If he does happen to fail, we can go back and try again, with someone else if necessary. We've done it before."

 _'_ _Celebi?'_ Joe thought. He knew that name. Then he remembered. There had been a shrine to a pokémon called Celebi back in Ilex forest, the same one Silver had punched. And when it had responded with a psychic blast, he'd seen something small and green fly out from the roof and into the distance. And what had they meant by going back? More worryingly, what did they mean by saying they'd done it before? Suddenly he realised they were talking again.

"I think, for now, we should let him sleep." The third voice said wisely. "He is in no danger yet, although his friends will be very soon."

Joe felt a surge of horror run through him. 'Winter and Silver, in danger?' He quickly realised he had to wake up. He had to help them. He struggled to move, just to stand up, but his body was clamped down at every muscle. Moving was not an option.

"Surely we should let him help his friends then?" Mew suggested. The third voice probably shrugged.

"He will awake once I let him." It said, but not maliciously. It didn't sound like he was keeping Joe unconscious because he wanted to. "I think we are done here." The third voice told its friends. "You two can go now." It said simply.

"But, Meian, surely there's more we can do to help?" Mew said, sounding a little pleading.

'Meian?' Joe didn't recognise that name. He'd never heard a name like it before.

"There is nothing you can do right now." The third voice, Meian, told them simply. "But there will be soon enough. When this all starts, he'll need all the help he can get. Let's just hope he's ready, and that he'll know what to do when the time comes. Or he may lose everything." The voices fell silent. In the distance Joe heard what sounded like two beings teleporting away. It sounded faint for some reason, as if someone had failed to mix the two sounds properly on an editing software. There was silence for a few seconds. Then the third voice spoke again.

"Joseph Glende, I speak only to you now." It stated simply. Joe looked on into the darkness.

 _'_ _What am I doing here?'_ He asked, his mind speaking for his mouth.

"Don't worry. I won't keep you long." The voice told him. There was a short quiet. Then it gave a small chuckle. "You are afraid." It told him simply. "You are afraid of what is to come."

 _'_ _How can you tell?'_ Joe asked it.

"Because I can read your mind." The voice said simply. "I see your thoughts and a feel your emotions, like they were my own. You are fearful of what you could lose. One person in particular you fear for." The child's voice paused. "The young woman who travels with you." It said finally. "You worry for her safety, yet she is the strongest friend you will ever have." His voice stopped. "I am curious. Why do you fear for her?" He asked.

 _'_ _Because she is my friend.'_ Joe told him simply. _'I don't want her getting hurt for me.'_

"Like it or not, in war people always get hurt." Meian told him wisely. "And this is war, even if it doesn't look like it yet." Joe struggled to move again.

 _'_ _Why are you talking to me?'_ He asked. _'Who are you?'_

"I wouldn't worry about that." Meian told him. "We will meet face to face soon enough." He seemed to sigh. "But I have kept you long enough. You want to get back to your friends, so I will let you." He paused. "But heed these parting words." He said dramatically. Joe felt a presence getting slightly closer in the dark. "By the end of this war, someone you put your trust in will betray you, and someone you love will be lost forever. Remember who your friends are, Master Glende. They will defend you beyond life itself if they must, but remember also that love is a two way trial. You must care for them, as they care for you. If you do not, you will lose them." The child's voice was so stern that for a second Joe forgot he sounded younger that ten years old. And then suddenly a form appeared from the darkness in front of him. It was yellow and small, with two toed feet and two toed hands, levitating in the air on a crossed lap. A small head looked at him with closed eyes and a tail whipped slightly behind it. "Good luck." Meian told him. Then the blackness faded away, and Joe was thrown suddenly back into consciousness.

* * *

Winter sat down again, laying her friend down beside her with the help of Ralph and Silver. They had tried to continue on and get out of the icy cave, but the weight of their unconscious friend had slowed them down a lot, and their tired arms couldn't keep him up anymore. They were so close to being outside again. Just a small climb up and then they'd be free once more. They'd already made it through the icy tunnel before them. But they couldn't keep it up. They had to stop and rest. Joe's skin was going whiter, as the frost around them froze up his body. Reluctantly Winter removed her coat, wrapping it around them to keep them both warm. She shivered as her back touched the cold ice covered rock, but at least neither of them would freeze now.

"He's still not waking." She muttered, her voice quieter than usual and wavering a lot with every shiver. Silver shook his head in agreement. It was beginning to get worrying. The cut on his forehead had stopped bleeding at least, and he was still breathing. But the fact he hadn't woken up was alarming in itself.

"Just give me a second to rest." Silver gasped. "My arms are killing me, and I need air. Let me just… sit down for a minute."

Winter placed a hand on his forehead. It was warm on her skin, warmer than the air around them certainly. She knew he would wake up eventually. He wouldn't leave her like this. She certainly wouldn't let him. He was her only friend. She wasn't going to leave her friend behind.

"We need to get him out of here soon." She said. "If he hasn't awoken by now then he could be in serious trouble."

Silver sighed. "Alright." He agreed. "Just… one second." He sat silently for a minute, before pushing himself up onto his knees, then onto his feet once more. Winter was surprised by how much Silver was doing for her, and for Joe. He had already walked across so much ice, just to keep him safe and moving. It was amazing he hadn't slipped once. He'd even been taking most of the weight. But it was clearly beginning to show. He was exhausted already. But he wasn't stopping. "Okay…" He muttered, grabbing Joe under his legs again and preparing to lift him up once more. "Let's get him moving again."

There was a sudden sound from down the tunnel they had just walked through. Both trainers froze, stiller then the cold air that blew over them. Winter, Silver and Ralph, who had been sitting by Joe's side also, all turned back and glanced down the tunnel. At the far end they could see light coming towards them. Fire light.

"There are no fire pokémon in this tunnel." Silver muttered, an air of confusion in his voice. .

"They're not fire pokémon." Winter realised, her eyes widening slightly. She glanced into the dark, and saw that the flames were small, and burning on the ends of stocky wooded torches, held in the hands of men and women in black jumpsuits. "It's Team Rocket!" She muttered.

Sure enough, as she said it the shouts of "There they are!" and "Over here! We found them!" Echoed up from the tunnel. Silver growled and reached to his pokeball belt.

"I'll take care of them!" He said simply, stepping forwards. "You look after Joe."

"You're too tired." Winter called after him. "Let me deal with them."

Silver stopped. He glanced back at the ginger haired girl he travelled with, and gave her a comforting smile. "I think he's more likely to wake up if he knows you're next to him." He said kindly. "He probably doesn't like me much, anyway." He turned back and charged down the cave, running to meet the rocket grunts head on.

Winter glanced over at Ralph. "Go with him." She asked off him. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Ralph gave her a look that asked what she was going to do. "I'll stay with him." She told him simply, glancing down at Joe. "I'll keep him warm." Ralph gave her a grateful smile. It was almost slightly cheeky, but Ralph probably didn't know how to do that kind of expression. He took off and sped off after Silver, reaching him in seconds.

The duo stopped one fourth of the way into the tunnel. The grunts were nearly half way up it now, still charging. At their front line a row off pokémon rushed, a mixture of raticate, sandslash, koffing, zubat and Golbat, ekans; the usual species that grunts were supplied with. Silver unclipped two pokeballs.

"You ready to fight, Fella?" He asked confidently, turning to Ralph.

"Cro!" Ralph exclaimed in agreement. Silver smiled.

"Good!" He turned back to the charging grunts. A few of them had pulled out nets. Silver readied his hands out. "Go, Magnemite! Go Sneasel! Take these grunts down!" Silver threw his pokeballs. With a flash his two newest pokémon appeared on the field. Instantly they got to work. "Magnemite, use thundershock! Sneasel, use Icy Wind!" Both pokémon pulled back their heads, Magnemite gathering static and Sneasel breathing in deep. When they pushed forwards again, a bolt of static was fired and a gust of freezing, ice shard wind was thrown down the tunnel. Both attacks hit, Magnemites thundershock striking an eager golbat from the air and Sneasel's icy wind freezing up several pokémon up front. Silver turned to Ralph. "Your turn." He said simply. Ralph grinned sinisterly. He fluttered forwards, preparing to attack. The grunts rushed closer and closer.

Ralph extended his wings out, spreading them wide and tough. Seconds later they were glittering metal like a star of steel in the dark sky. He narrowed his eyes on the approaching enemy, then he dived. He sped towards them like an arrow head with extended bladed attacked to it. When he struck, he knocked the front line of three grunts flat onto their backs. The others ducked down, some trying to grab him as he did so but none of the m succeeding. He flew back across while they were recovering, flying back down the tunnel and gaining speed. As he did so the grunts got back up, preparing to keep fighting. He reached Silver again and turned around in front on him and his pokémon, lashing them with a small gust of air. Silver's hair flicked as it washed over him.

"Attack again!" He instructed. Magnemite fired a sonic boom, while Sneasel rushed in with Ralph, throwing a frozen ice punch at the nearest Sandslash. Ralph swung his winds down, crossing them in a poisonous X over a small group of huddled up raticate. The pokémon that were struck went down with ease, a slash of diagonal air hitting a small zubat off to the side of the collection. The grunts weren't giving up however. There didn't seem to be a commanded with them, but even so they were proving to be ruthless and unyielding.

Winter watched with worry as Silver, his pokémon, and Ralph held back the attackers. She worried that at any moment they'd break through, and then she'd have to fight too. She wasn't going to let them get near Joe, not even close. She was so concentrated on Silver's fight that she failed to hear her coat rustle slightly with movement.

"Where am I?" Someone very recognisable suddenly said. She jumped, almost out of her skin. The shock had been so sharp, it had jolted her completely. She looked back. Joe was sitting up, his expression exhausted, but he was at least conscious again.

"Joe!" Winter exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am." He muttered, rubbing his forehead. "You thought I wouldn't be?" Winter smiled as she rushed up to him again.

"Of course I didn't." She smiled. "I knew you'd be okay." She hugged him tight, causing they boy to flinch slightly and make a light groan.

"Winter, that's too tight!" He muttered.

"Sorry." She said shyly, letting go of him again. She sat back, giving him some air. "I was just a bot worried. You've been out a while."

Joe shrugged and wriggled against the wall, trying to sit up properly. "Now… what on earth happened?" He asked. He glanced down. "Am I wearing your coat?" He asked.

Winter blushed a little, awkwardly. "Yes." She said straight. Joe blinked.

"Why?" He asked.

"You were cold." She told him simply. "I wanted to keep you warm."

"Oh." Joe muttered. "Well, thanks I guess." Back down the tunnel they heard Silver shout to them.

"Is he awake yet?"

Winter turned around. "Yes. He's awake!" She called.

They heard Silver sigh with relief. "Oh good." He called back. "Now we can finally get out of here." There was the following sound of a grunt screaming, and a punch being thrown. "Can we please hurry up? These guys are getting a lot closer!" Silver called more, sounding a lot more desperate to go then before.

"What's happening?" Joe asked.

"It's Team Rocket." Winter explained simply. "They're attacking again." Joe groaned.

"Really?" He muttered. Winter nodded sadly.

"I don't even know how they found us in here." She explained. Meian's words echoed in Joe's head. _'Someone you put your trust in will betray you.'_ Was it possible that this was related to that betrayal? Even if it wasn't, he'd have to be careful with his trust from now on. But this wasn't the time to dwell on that. Team Rocket were attacking them, and he had to do something.

"How many of them are there?" He asked.

"Around ten." Silver shouted back. "Maybe fifteen."

"Right." Joe stood up slowly, Winter helping him back onto his feet. "We need to block this tunnel and stop Team Rocket following us further."

"Block the tunnel?" Winter repeated, seeming stunned by his words. "Joe that would also block the way for other trainers coming this way."

"Do you have a better plan?" He asked, a little too rudely. "We can inform people at Blackthorn about the tunnel blockage and they can clear it afterwards. But right now we need to get out of here, and if we don't do something those grunts will just follow after us." Winter said nothing in response. "Silver?" Joe called.

"Yeah?" Silver called back.

"What can you do to block the tunnel off?" Joe asked.

"I could get Magnemite to sap some ice down, or get Sneasel to freeze it up. But that won't be easy to do while I'm being attacked."

"What about Quill?" Joe asked. "Where's he?" As if on cue the fuzzy flaming Typhlosion uncurled from his corner, where he'd been heavily asleep, and waddled over, giving Joe a cute salute.

"I guess he could melt the roof away maybe." Silver agreed. "But that's not likely to do much."

"What about Ralph?"

"He's helping me."

"Okay." Joe muttered. "Maybe we don't need to collapse it. We just need to block it off. Get your sneasel to freeze up a wall in front of you!"

"On it!" Silver called.

"Now we should go." Joe said, turning back to Winter. "Silver, come after us once you're done."

"Okay." Silver agreed. He glanced to Ralph. "You should go with them." He said. Ralph nodded and flew back down the tunnel, following after Joe as he and Winter began climbing up the ladder that lead outside. Silver turned back to his pokémon. "Are you ready?" He asked. They nodded.

Silver gave a quick glance to his metal magnet pokémon. It had just flashed bright White. Now it was a three metal magnet pokémon. His newly evolved Magneton sparked, preparing to attack. Sneasel readied her claws, also getting ready to fight.

"Magneton, use Zap Cannon on the ice floor in front of us. Sneasel, freeze Magneton's attack!" Silver instructed. The two pokémon nodded and made their attacks.

The components mixed so quickly it was tough to properly make out what had happened, but the result was obvious. The large ball of electricity that had struck the frozen floor caused large shards of ice to fly upwards from it, breaking of the stone floor. Then sneasels frozen breath had fixed them solid, melding the still sparking static to the massive sharp icicles sticking out from the floor. The frost filled up the areas between the giant wall-like ice shards with fresh frost, solidifying the pieces together and keeping them up. The grunts skidded to a halt in on the opposite side of it, sending their pokémon to bring it down. But none of them could. The ice was to thick, and when they struck it they were shocked by the frozen electricity inside.

Silver gave a small smile and walked away, taking his pokémon with him as the furious grunts were left stuck on the opposite side of the wall. All they could do was shout at him in anger as he left them behind. It would take them ages to bring the ice wall down.

* * *

 **Hey guys. I just wanted to say sorry if this chapters rather slow near the end or boring. I was struggling a lot to find the right way to end it and I'm not very happy with it. If any of you think I could do it better please let me know and I'll go back and try to fix it. But either way I hope you keep reed. I'll put more effort into the next chapter, I swear. The end is coming soon then you may think, so lets hope I can keep you interested till then.**


	29. Chapter 29: Clair: The Dragon Queen

Silver eventually emerged out of the ice path tunnel and onto dry stable land and open sky again. It didn't take him long to realise that, not only had his friends abandoned him, but that Blackthorn City was also much closer then they'd originally thought. It was practically outside of the ice path, only half a kilometre south away from it in fact, at least within five minutes walking distance.

"Oh." He muttered, feeling a little abandoned. "Well, they could have at least waited for me." He muttered as he followed after the path his friends had taken, towards the city.

Blackthorn City looked exactly like they'd imagined. The best description of it would be: picture an old western town, except the buildings are made of a dark grey and red brick and the ground isn't sand but dry earth and dust, and it isn't anywhere near as hot. It also isn't in the 18th century. That is Blackthorn City. Most houses seemed to be spread apart, like a weird pattern on the earth's shell that could only be seen from above. To the furthest north part was the gym, and behind that a giant lake of water that spread out vastly into the mountainside. Silver however didn't take much time admiring the place. He knew where his friends would have gone first, where they always went first. He headed to the pokémon centre, which thankfully was rather close by.

When he entered in he found his friends being waited on by the counter nurse, Winter and Ralph standing to the side while Joe was having his head examined. A fitting experiment considering some of the actions he had taken today. Unfortunately the nurse wasn't checking him mental health. Only his physical.

"You don't feel lightheaded?" The nurse asked.

"No." Joe said with an air of uncaring annoyance.

"No dizziness or nausea?"

"No."

"No itching or serious bleeding."

"Nothing close."

The nurse backed away again, having made a thorough examination of his head wound. "Well it doesn't look infected." She took note. "How hard did you hit yourself?"

"Hard enough to be knocked out." Joe told her. Part of him thought that maybe it wasn't the rock that had done that bit. Considering the convenience of his eavesdropping into a legendary's conversation, it was quite possible that Meian had wanted him to hear it. That he had somehow induced unconsciousness into him. Joe shivered a little. A thought like that would make him paranoid… or at least more paranoid. The nurse put her hands to her hips in thought.

"How long was he out for?" She asked, turning to Winter now.

"I while." The girl told him. "I'm not sure for how long."

"An hour at least." Silver spoke up for her. She, Joe and Ralph turned to notice he had entered.

"You finally caught up to us then." Joe said, seeming a little entertained. Silver smiled cheekily back.

"You didn't exactly give me a chance to rest." He replied. Joe chuckled a little. "They won't be coming after us any time soon."

"Good." Joe winced suddenly, his head finally realising the pain he was in and his hand reaching to cover the cut on his head. The nurse turned back to him.

"It's going to take a few days to heal up." She told him. "A week at most. Till then you're going to need to wear a bandage."

"A bandage." Joe groaned.

"Yes." The nurse told him strictly. "It in order to keep out infecting. If you get one of them, then you'll need someone better than me to take care of you, and you'll most likely be stuck in a hospital bed for over a month!"

"Give me the bandage." Joe said quickly, the thought of the latter option quickly becoming much more dislikeable. Winter chuckled a little. The nurse had already pulled out a long roll of bandage wrap from her pockets, along with a pair of scissor and a needle and thread.

"Just hold still." She told him, lifting his fringe up to wrap the bandage across his forehead.

"Now you look like a veteran." Silver said mockingly as the nurse finished up. Joe gave him a grumpy scowl.

"It's not funny." He moaned.

"I think it's hilarious." Silver muttered, holding his knuckled to his teeth for fear he'd need to bite them to stop him laughing.

"At least you're not going to get sick." Winter reminded him.

"But we're wasting time." Joe replied. "We need to get moving again. We need to get straight out and take on the gym, before Team Rocket show up again."

"They've already shown up again." Silver reminded him. "That's who we were fighting in Ice Path, remember."

Joe glared at him. "You know what I mean." He scolded him. "Archer's after us because we're in his way. We need to get stronger to defeat him… I need to get stronger."

"Joe, you can't keep pushing yourself." Winter warned him. "You'll crack. You need a chance to rest." Joe stood up and pushed the nurse aside.

"I can't, Winter." He told her simply. "I need to fight the eight gym leader. I need to be ready to face him."

"But Joe." She tried to say. Joe was having none of it. He refused to listen. He simply started walking to the doorway, Ralph following beside him.

"You two can either come along or move out of the way. Either way, you aren't changing my mind." Winter and Silver didn't know how to convince him to stop. But this didn't stop the nurse trying.

"Hang on, you can't go out and fight gym leaders in your condition." She shouted at him as he walked away. "Your bandage will get ruined. You'll get sick. You need to rest, young man!"

"And what about your pokémon?" Silver called after him. "What about them. They need to rest too." Joe stopped, mid step. He didn't turn back, but it was clear he was thinking about it. Ralph looked at his trainer, worried for him and confused by what he was doing. Joe stood there for a few seconds, before responding.

"Resting up, even for a minute, is wasting precious time that we desperately need." He told them. "I love my pokémon. I want them to be safe. But if the rockets are after us, then they won't ever be. Resting now, giving them a chance to catch up, will leave them in more danger then pushing them further ever will."

"Joe, that's stupid!" Winter snapped at him.

"Do you have a better plan?" He asked her calmly, finally turning to face his friends. "Because if you do I'd love to hear it." Winter just stared at him. She couldn't respond. She didn't know how to. Joe held his head a little. "I'm sorry." He told her quietly. "Just please… let me do this. Once it's over, then I'll rest for a bit." Winter sighed.

"Okay." She muttered. She gave Joe a small smile, and he smiled back, but she felt in her heart that he was still making the wrong choice. "Just be careful today." She told him. "This is the eight gym leader. Whoever it is in that building won't be easy to fight." Joe nodded back to her respectfully.

"I know." He said.

* * *

Joe stormed through the glass doors to the pokémon gym, his whole stance and walk showing that he was already prepared for a fight. He entered alone. Winter and Silver didn't follow him. They wanted to rest. So this last battle was his alone. There would be no one there to encourage him on, no one to watch him succeed, or fail. He was alone, except for his pokémon, his closest friends Ralph, and his conscience. When he walked in he was surprised to find the stadium surrounded by a moat of boiling fire and lava. His initial though had been that this was a rather dangerous thing to have in a pokémon gym, but that thought didn't stay in his head long. He waked straight up to the podium and stood there, glaring at the gym leader who had watched him stroll in. She was not smiling. In fact she looked rather stern and cold, colder then Pryce had been, even when she was surrounded by several gallons of molten fire. She watched the trainer with piercing, watching eyes. Her black cape hung at her side, cutting of at her waist, her long blue hair flailing on top of it in one long ponytails. Her gloved hands hung by her side, scrapping her bare legs as the short jumpsuit she wore barely hardly passed her thighs. Her clothes were blue, both bright and dark shades, and around her thin neck was a choker with a single blue opal jewel. She looked royal and magnificent, but not in a beautiful way but fierce. She looked like she would happily destroy anyone who so much as looked at her wrong with a simple flick of her hand. She watched as Joe walked up to his podium, but restrained from speaking till he'd reached it and several seconds more had passed by.

"What do you want?" She asked simply. Joe blinked.

"I am here to challenge you." He told her simply. The gym leader also blinked.

"You want to challenge me?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"You are the gym leader, right?" Joe asked sarcastically. "Or have I got the wrong building?" The gym leader smiled.

"No, you are in the right place." She told him. "I am Clair, of Blackthorn City, and I am the gym leader here." She put her hands to her hips. My confused tone comes from looking at you. You want to challenge me?" She asked.

"Yes." Joe told her.

"Are you serious?" She asked, sounding slightly catty.

"What part of _yes_ are you not understanding?" Joe asked, a lot less sarcastically now. "I wish to challenge you to a pokémon match in order to obtain your gym badge, the eighth one I need to reach the Johto Pokémon League. Do you understand now?" Clair continued to look at him, her expression not changing in the slightest.

"I think you're missing my point." She told him straight. "You are just a trainer. You don't even look like much at all. Why should I grant you the honour of battling me?" She asked.

"Because…" Joe told her.

"Don't bother coming up with some excuse." She interrupted immediately. "I certainly don't want to hear it." Joe looked furious.

"You're the gym leader." He stated angrily. "It's your job to battle challenging trainers. What would you be if you were to deny one?"

"A smart gym leader who only wants to battle very strong trainers." Clair told him.

"I took on Team Rocket!" Joe stated, in a desperate attempt to impress her.

"So have many other trainers in this region." Clair replied. "And most of them failed."

"I travelled all across Kanto!" Joe continued.

Clair yawned. "Boring. So you did a little walking. So what?"

"I battled the Kanto elite four!"

"I've got better things to be doing right now."

"I became champion!"

Clair paused in mid turn. She glanced back. "Go on." She said, seeming suddenly intrigued. Joe suddenly realised he was going to struggle explaining the rest of this part.

"Technically I became champion." He continued. "But I passed it on to a close friend, who I'd had to battle to earn the title from. He had also been champion only a minute. I won the match, but I let him stay champion, because he wanted it and I didn't." He looked at the gym leader. "Does that make you want to fight me?" He asked.

Clair looked him over. Her uninterested stare turning into a small pleased smile. "Alright." She said. "You've convinced me. Anyone who can earn the title of champion but also refuse to take it must be worth my time." She turned around again, facing him fully. "What is your name then?" She asked.

"Joe." Joe told her. "Joe Glende."

"Well, Joe…" Clair tod him. "I, Clair, the gym leader of Blackthorn City, accept your challenge!"

* * *

There was no transition between the preparation for the battle and the start of the battle itself. All that happened in between was the score board lowered down from the ceiling, hanging over the lava moat around the battlefield. Clair reached for a pokeball, as did Joe. He had decided not to go with Ralph first. This was to give him a bit more time, but also so Joe could figure out what pokémon she had and what matchup was best for his strongest team member. Clair pulled the ball back in her arm and threw it.

"Go Gyarados!" She called. The ball exploded open and released a massive blue form onto the dry field. Gyarados lay flat out on the hot floor, its head reared up. It roared fiercely, showing its dominance. Joe unclipped his pokeball of choice, pulled his arm back and released it.

"Go, Pippy!" He commanded. His pokeball landed on his side of the field and out of it popped his tiny pikachu. Pippy sparked and prepared to fight. He had battled against Gyarados before, but Clair's one seemed especially fierce and intimidating. It seemed to be slightly wild, even though it had done very little so far. Pippy couldn't help but shiver a little as he saw his opponent. Clair grinned. She thrust a hand forwards.

"Hyper Beam!" She cried. Immediately the full strength of Gyarados was unleashed onto the field.

"Dodge!" Joe cried. Pippy dived aside as a massive beam of light fired from Gyarados's gaping mouth and struck the ground right where Pippy had been standing. The small mouse rolled onto his front as he landed on his side and readied to attack himself. "Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy sparked and released an arrow of static.

"Evade!" Clair demanded. Gyarados twisted and curved around, flexing its body into a C shape as the bolt reached its target. The attack flew straight past the giant serpent, striking a far wall and neutralising instantly. Joe growled. Her pokémon was quick, quick enough to avoid a thunderbolt. He'd have to play this a bit smarter and a lot quicker. Clair grinned proudly. "Now, use bite!" She commanded. Gyarados reared up and dived, aiming jaws wide at Pippy, planning to swallow him whole.

"Look out!" Joe yelled, having no idea what to do. Pippy saw it coming and jumped aside, only just avoiding the attack. Gyarados's face struck the ground, digging up the plastic and brick layer that laced its surface. It closed its mouth and chomped the few bricks in it up, causing concrete dust to fall away from its thin lips. The beast reared up again, getting ready to fight further. Pippy was already back to his feet, getting ready to attack once more. "Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Pippy charged static quickly then fired again. This time it struck its target. Gyarados recoiled with pain and surprise. It recovered quickly however and glared down on Pippy, small evil eyes squinted into slits.

"Dragon breath!" Clair commanded. Gyarados pulled its head to inhale and exhaled blue flames. Pippy darted aside, zigzagging to avoid the spitting hot flames. Gyarados kept its attention focused completely on him. It didn't even blink once, its blue flames lapping out of its mouth like water from a fire hydrant. Pippy was starting to get tired already. Dodging so much flame was tough to do, and Gyarados seemed to have a lot of it. So far Pippy had been lucky, but his luck did eventually run out. One small ember managed to singe his side, which did enough damage to cripple him for a second. Pippy collapsed onto his front, his right shoulder singed a little and going black with ash. He winced and tried to sooth it with cold air. Gyarados's attack had stopped for now, but Clair looked about ready to force on it another hyper beam.

"Hydro Pump!" She commanded. Gyarados took a few seconds to gather water, a blue light appearing in its gaping mouth and small droplets of water falling from its jaw. Joe had a short opening of time to act in.

"Pippy, use double team, quick!" He instructed fast. Pippy split himself into many multiple pikachu's. They stood in a line and, one by one, stuck their tongue out at the opponent gyarados in a taunting manner. Clair growled.

"Spray it down!" She roared. Gyarados fired, launching a cannon of water from its massive mouth and striking the row of Pikachu's. One by one they all disappeared as the attack struck them. Eventually Gyarados hit one that didn't disappear. Clair glared at it. "Strike that one there!" She commanded. Gyarados lunged at the remaining pikachu, fangs bared and jaws wide. Pippy didn't move. Gyarados launched itself and struck, swallowing Pippy whole with one bite. It reared back, thinking it had just won the battle, only to realise its mouth was full of dust. It spat out again, looking very confused at where the pikachu had been. There was a small pile of dust there too. It had been tricked. That pikachu had never been real, just a copy. It glanced back at its trainer. Clair was pointing rapidly at a corner, shouting something. "Look out!" She called. Gyarados turned to its right. A thunderbolt struck it in the neck. It toppled backwards, roaring in pain from the attack. The giant water serpent struck the ground, falling flaccid and limp in a pile. It shivered a bit, before finally falling still. Clair glanced at the scoreboard. The number of her pokémon had just gone down by one. She turned back to Joe, glaring angrily. "That was a sneaky trick!" She muttered.

Joe nodded, smiling back at her. "But it worked." He reminded her. Clair withdrew Gyarados, looking pretty annoyed that Joe had already taken one of her pokémon out. She clipped its pokeball back to her belt and unclipped another one. She held it out in her hand, getting ready to keep fighting.

"Alright." She muttered. "You're stronger then you look, I'll give you that." She held the pokeball in both hands. "But that last pokémon gave you a type advantage." She reminded him. She threw the pokeball. "Let's see how you do without it." The pokeball landed and opened. "Go, Dragonair!" She called. A long snakelike dragon appeared from it, with an opal, similar to Clair's, on its forehead. It lay flat out, its head reared up but its long body and tail stretching out behind it in a line. It already seemed ready to fight.

Pippy readied to keep fighting, static sparking across his arched back. "Set up another Double Team!" Joe instructed. Pippy immediately split into multiple images of himself, each of which lined up to confuse the opponent. Clair made her own command now.

"Dragonair, use Slam!" She instructed. The thin long tailed dragon darted forwards surprisingly quickly, hardly even slithering as it moved. It was as if someone was pulling it along on a string over a slippery surface. It moved gracefully, yet also fiercely. Once it was within attacking distance it lowered its head and rushed forwards faster, striking one Pikachu image and causing it to pop out of existence. It swung its tail around a second later, striking the four closest images around it. They too vanished upon impact. The real Pippy prepared to attack from his hiding spot.

"Use slam!" Joe instructed. Pippy darted from his hiding place among the line of pikachu's and lunged, jumping body first at the long target.

"Strike it away." Clair called quickly. Dragonair swung around again, this time raising its tail up. The strong limb struck Pippy in the side as he attacked, knocking him away and sending him rolling. He got back onto his feet, feeling a little weakened but preparing to attack again. He had already taken down a gyarados today. Dragonair couldn't be too much worse.

"You okay, Pippy?" Joe asked. Pippy nodded, yapping in confirmation. Joe smiled. "Okay." He muttered, deciding on his next attack. "Use thunderbolt again!" He instructed simply. Pippy sparked and fired his attack, the bolt of electricity striking Clair's Dragonair in the reared chest. Dragonair flinched for a second, but surprisingly seemed hardly bothered by it. It hardly even noticed it'd been attacked. Joe seemed confused. "It barely even flinched." He muttered. Clair was grinning malevolently.

"That's the great thing about dragons." She told him. "They can resist a lot, and then dish it back out again!" She pointed her finger directly at Pippy. "Thunderbolt!" She roared. Dragonair formed static around its opal and fired it in a sharp jagged bolt. Pippy looked on terrified as the attack flew towards him. It struck him square in the centre of his face. His tiny body was flung backwards, rolling in a clenched ball, his tail crumpling into his back. He stopped twenty feet away from where he had been, near the edge of the battlefield itself. The lava was only a foot under him, and thankfully he hadn't been knocked any further back or he would have fallen in.

"Pippy!" Joe cried, worried for his pokémon. He had come so close to real danger. Why did Clair even have lava in her gym? It seemed like a serious hazard to health. Pippy slowly got back to his feet. He was clearly weak, but he wasn't giving up just yet. He took a step forward, but Clair wasn't waiting for him to be ready. She made another command.

"Slam again!" She called. Dragonair came sliding towards Pippy, body forwards and head lowered.

"Look Out!" Joe called. Pippy saw his opponent coming in to attack and jumped aside just as Dragonair came stampeding past. It didn't stop in time to avoid going over the edge of the battlefield. Joe watched in horror, expecting the pokémon to drop into the boiling molten rock. He was surprised when it didn't do that, but instead remained in the same level it had been, barely dropping an inch. It turned around on thin air, it's tail now hanging on the edge and looked back at Pippy, ready to keep fighting. Joe's mouth dropped open. "How… How the…?" He managed to mutter, amazed. Clair laughed at him.

"Did you seriously think I'd leave boiling lava around the field and not cover it up somehow?" She asked him. Joe looked at her, confused. "There's a class layer over the edge of the field." She explained. "The lava's just a display. There's no way anything can fall into it." Joe seemed relieved by this. At least none of his pokémon, or Clair's, were going to get burned alive in here. Joe was going to say something in relief but Clair interrupted him before he could, already making her next attack command. "Dragon breath!" She commanded. Dragonair inhaled then exhaled fire, in the same way that a fire type used flamethrower. But there was one major difference. This fire was purple-pink, with a weird glitter to it. It was also twice as hot and even more blinding.

"Pippy, move!" Joe instructed. Pippy shielded his eyes from the light and dived aside, landing on his feet and scurrying across the field, around Dragonair. The long tailed dragon followed him, breathing flames of a dragon onto the field, attempting to strike her target. Even though the flames themselves didn't manage to hit him Pippy could feel his body weakening from the heat alone. Dragonair finally stopped its attack and Pippy collapsed, wheezing exhaustedly. He wasn't out yet, but he was clearly very tired. "Pippy, come back." Joe called. Slowly Pippy pushed himself up onto his back feet and he waddled slowly, exhaustedly, back over to his trainer. Clair and her Dragonair watched as he left the battlefield, re-joining Joe's side. Joe patted his pikachu's head comfortingly. "Well done, buddy." He muttered. "You did well." Pippy looked up at him happily. "I won't withdraw you just let." Joe told him. "Let's see what else she has, and if I need you again. At least you get a rest for now, though." Pippy's happy expression fell a little. He had though he was done for now, but Joe was thinking otherwise. It wasn't his place to argue with his trainer. But if he was sent back in to fight he felt he wouldn't last very long. Joe turned back to the stadium. Clair was rubbing her Dragonair's head, her pokémon now back by her side also.

"I will admit you are giving me a little trouble." She told him smugly. "But I have an interesting idea. What do you say we make the next fight a double battle?" She suggested. Joe seemed a little unsure. At first he thought it was weird one gym leader would want to double battle one trainer. But he accepted anyway.

"Alright." He agreed. "Why not."

"Oh you'll see why soon enough." She told him, sounding worryingly malicious as she said it. She unclipped a second pokeball, and waited for Joe to decide upon his own two. "You first." She told him. Joe readied to throw his pokeballs.

"Go, Quill! Go, Cyclone!" He called. His powerful typhlosion and his menacing red gyarados appeared on the pitch, ready to fight and prepared to win. Clair seemed to snigger a little.

"Alright. My turn." She pulled her arm back and threw the pokeball. "Come on out, Dragonair!" She called. Joe raised his eyebrows. Two Dragonair. She had two Dragonair, and they were both on the same field. Why did she have two? Surely one was enough. But no, sure enough, she now had two of the exact same pokémon on her side of the battlefield. Gym leaders didn't usually do this. You didn't see Lt Surge from Vermillion using two raichus, or Whitney using two miltank. That last one would've been an awful experience! Clair smiled to herself. "You wanted to fight me." She reminded him. "So this is what you get when I accept." She crossed her arms. "I'll let you go first." She told him.

Joe thought for a second, trying to come up with a strategy. The fact she had two of the same pokémon made typing very simple, but the problem came from not knowing all her pokémon's moves. Joe had only seen the first Dragonair use three moves so far, and the second one hadn't done anything yet. There was no telling what moves it knew. It was quite likely Clair had taught it different moves, on the ideas of diversity to deal with any situation. It was a cunning strategy that often worked favourably. Joe considered his team. He had one move that was super effective on dragon types available at this point. That was Cyclone's ice fang attack. He could just instruct her to use that. A pokémon as thin as Dragonair probably wouldn't be able to resist an attack that powerful. But the problem then arises of one Dragonair knowing thunderbolt. If it were to pull that attack off on Cyclone, who is a water and flying type, she'd be taken out instantly. It wouldn't even matter how powerful the attack was. Electric type moves were her Achilles heel. As for Quill, he didn't know any moves that would give him an advantage, but at the moment it seemed the opponent didn't either. Using him as the main attacker would take longer, but he'd be tougher to take down. In the end he had to make a choice. He didn't know all the opponents moves yet, but he would soon find out anyway. He made his choices and called them.

"Quill, use Strength. Keep her right Dragonair distracted!" Joe instructed. Quill nodded and charged, running bulk first at his opponent. "Cyclone, use ice fang on her other Dragonair. Take it out quickly!" Joe continued. Cyclone dived forwards, sliding quickly across the ground, using her powerful tail to move her across the ground. Joe was hoping he had remembered which Dragonair was which. He hoped that Quill could keep the thunderbolt using one's attention on him and off Cyclone, so she could take out the other one which hopefully didn't know thunderbolt. He hoped this plan would work. He didn't know what to do if it didn't. Clair made her own commands.

"Thunder Wave!" She said simply, not directing it at either of her pokémon specifically. Both Dragonair charged static, then fired it forwards in a thin bolt.

"Dodge, both of you!" Joe called, reacting quickly. Cyclone curled aside, reflexing out of the way of the bolt and avoiding being paralysed just in time. Quill curled up and rolled aside, letting his thunder wave zoom way past, barely even scraping him. "Keep going!" Joe called. "You can take them out."

"Dragon breath!" Clair called. Both her Dragonair released a long plume of purple-pink flame from their mouths. Joe's pokémon skidded to a halt, avoiding the attack just it time. They stood back, letting the flames ahead of them die out first. Thankfully neither Dragonair had managed to hit them. They were just out of range.

"Keep going!" Joe shouted again. His pokémon continued their charge.

"Slam." Clair counter commanded. Both Dragonair sped towards their charging opponents and met them near the centre of the field. Quill rammed into left Dragonair, pushing back against its slam with all his strength and weight. The Dragonair wasn't proving easy to move however. It pushed back, proving surprisingly strong and immovable for something with no legs or arms. The other Dragonair was attacked by Cyclone, her head rearing back and lunging down at it. She went in to bite down on Dragonair with frozen fangs, but missed as the pokémon was surprisingly fast. It avoided her attack and landed its own, slamming into her stomach with full force. Cyclone yelled and groaned. The attack had been surprisingly strong. But she didn't give up.

"Try again!" Joe called. Cyclone lunged again at the now recoiling Dragonair. This time she struck. Her icy teeth dug into Dragonair's back as she bit down hard. The thin dragon snake gave a painful cry as Cyclone sunk her teeth in. "Not too hard." Joe muttered worriedly as he heard Dragonair's scream, and saw Cyclone's attack.

"Ice Beam!" Clair called suddenly. Again, she didn't allocate which Dragonair would use it. Joe glanced at the one in Cyclone's grip hopefully. It was preparing no suck attack. He suddenly heard Quill yell. He glanced to his fully evolved fire type, to see his chest and legs had been frozen solid to the ground where he stood. The other Dragonair was backing up, free from his attack and looking rather pleased with itself.

"Ice beam…" Joe muttered, slow realisation striking him like an iceberg into an unwary ship. Both of Clair's pokémon had so far used the same moves. Both knew Thunder wave. Both knew dragon breath. Both knew slam. Ice beam was this one's fourth and last known move. "But that means…" Joe suddenly realised. He turned to look at the Cyclone, and the Dragonair she was still gripping in her teeth. Suddenly it dawned on him. And as it did so, Clair made her next attack.

"Thunderbolt!" She instructed.

"Cyclone, let go!" Joe roared. The red gyarados looked at him in confusion. She had no idea what he meant. She glanced at her prey, only to realise that Dragonair was not only still conscious but preparing an attack. To teach her a lesson, Cyclone bit down harder. Then several thousand volts passed into her mouth, shocking her instantly and frying her like barbequed eel. Instead of firing the thunderbolt outwards, Dragonair had fired it inwards, passing it over her body like a layer of skin. So when Cyclone bit down on it she got the full blast of the attack. The red gyarados's sharp jaws loosened, letting go of her target. Cyclone toppled backwards, smouldered and blackened, her eyes static. She collapsed onto her spine, her tail curling up and a delicious smell of cooked fish wafting off her. Joe sighed annoyed. The attack had knocked her out instantly. She'd never stood a chance. But the worst part was she hadn't even tried to listen to him. Clair was chuckling to herself.

"Some dragon of yours." She muttered. "Failed to even spot an easy trick." Joe felt like going over there and punching her, but he resisted the temptation. Getting in a real fight wouldn't help him at this point. He managed to keep his cool thankfully. He still had Quill on the field, and he had other pokémon to send out if he needed to.

"Less talking." Joe told her sternly. "And more fighting." Clair smiled at the comment.

"Okay." She said slyly. "Dragonair, slam!" She instructed. Both of her Dragonair charged to attack, moving quickly with chests out first.

"Quill, defrost quickly!" Joe commanded. Quill struggled in his ice enclosed pair of trousers, but it wasn't easy to break. The ice was strong and very slippery. He tried to claw it away, but when he did his hands would just slip on it. Joe had to think of another plan. "Okay then. Charge up your fire!" He instructed with haste. Quill glanced at him and quickly realised what he was planning. He smiled at his trainer. Quill's flame collar ignited into fire as his internal body heat began to rise. Slowly steam began to come of the ice. Water droplets formed. But it wasn't breaking fast enough. The Dragonair's reached him, and landed their attacks. They struck the typhlosion in the ice covered side, causing damage to him with each attack. But as they did so they cracked the ice. Slowly, with each slam, the ice began to break off. Quill kept heating up, gaining more fire power as he did so. The ice began to melt away. Then, when the two Dragonair came in for a fourth slam, Quill broke free. His fire burst from his body like a supernova. It evaporated all the ice in seconds, turning it into nothing but boiling hot steam. The two Dragonair were knocked far backwards, the fire not doing much damage itself but creating a lot of force, enough to push them away. Quill cooled down again. His overheating tactic had worked. Clair clapped her hands casually.

"A good plan, but it won't work twice." She warned her opponent. "Dragon's don't get hurt by fire" Sure enough she was right. Her Dragonair were already getting back up. They rolled onto their stomachs, looking up at their fiery opponent, seemingly barely scorched by his attacks. Clair was already making her next commands.

"Dragon breath!" She called. Both of her Dragonair attacked, releasing two plumes of dragon fire. Quill darted back, avoiding the attack.

Joe took another second to think. He needed to come up with another plan. One of the Dragonair was already weakened a lot, but now that Cyclone was out he had no way to quickly weaken the other one. He'd at least have to take the weak one out first, but how? He looked back at quill.

"Quill!" He called. Quill glanced at him. "Use rollout on the weaker Dragonair!" Joe instructed. Quill nodded back. He curled up into a ball and began to roll. As he rolled he slowly gained speed. Small cracks appeared in the ground under him as he moved, gaining more and more speed as he rolled across the field, moving as the size of a boulder.

"Dodge it!" Clair instructed. One Dragonair, the healthy one, managed to avoid the attack with ease. The other one wasn't so lucky. It was already tiring out and having been weakened by Cyclone already it wasn't able to react fast enough. Quill crushed it under his full force and weight, knocking it out instantly. Now there was only one Dragonair left. Quill kept rolling, made a U-turn and came back to take out the second Dragonair.

"Ice beam!" Clair commanded. Dragonair fired an ice beam again, but this time it bounced of Quill and reflected onto the ground ahead of him. He was moving too fast for it to freeze him. His fire was certainly stopping that from happening. The ice formed frost patched, which made the ground slippery. Soon Quill wasn't just rolling, he was sliding. If he were to hit Dragonair now he'd knock it out instantly. But Clair still had one trick in hand. "Thunder wave!" She called. Dragonair fired a thin shot of static, which struck Quill with ease. He uncurled, his muscles freezing up up, causing him to slide flat across the ice on his stomach. But he didn't slow down. He still hit his target. Dragonair was crushed under his weight in seconds. There was no way it would be able to resist the attack. Both of Clair's pokémon had been taken out in one move. Joe couldn't have been more proud.

"Damn…" He muttered. He looked at Quill and smiled. "Way to go, Quill!" he called. Quill smiled weakly back at him from his place on the icy floor. Slowly he tried to push himself up onto his feet. It would take him a while. His whole body was seizing up thanks to the thunder wave. But he was still going to fight.

"I don't think so!" Clair called suddenly. Joe and Quill looked at her. She had just withdrawn her Dragonair from the battle, both of them. She was already holding another pokeball in her hands, her last one. She released it, screaming like a warlord. "Go, Kingdra!" She yelled. The pokeball opened up and onto the field appeared a large blue seahorse. It had a long snout with a thin mouth at the end, two weird watery horns and one kelp shaped dorsal fin. It levitated a few inches above the ground, glaring angrily at Quill. Clair was also glaring angrily at Quill. "You think you'll win like that?" She roared, seemingly infuriated. "Well not likely! Not on my watch!" She pointed her hand out commandingly. "Surf!" She roared. Quill looked up as a giant wave rose above him. He could only look on in annoyance and self-disappointment as the tidal wave struck him down instantly.

Joe looked at the unconscious body that was Quill, then glanced back at the shivering Cyclone pile, then turned back to Clair.

"That was a little unnecessary." He told her. Clair shrugged, smiling evilly.

"That's pokémon battles!" She responded. "They're not always fair." She glared at him, adrenaline fulling her anger. "Well hurry up and send out your next pokémon." She snapped.

Joe only had two left, and one of them was still very tired out from his fight. But he didn't have much of a choice. He withdrew his two defeated pokémon, thanked them for their efforts, and then turned to his already released pokémon.

"Looks like you're going back in, Pippy." He said solemnly. Pippy looked a little disappointed, but he didn't argue back. He stepped out onto the field. Ralph looked at Joe with a worried expression. "Don't worry." Joe reassured him. "We can still win. Pippy can do it." He turned back to the battlefield. "Alright, Pippy." He called as his pikachu reached his place on the field. "We'll go easy first. Start off with Sub…"

"Dragon breath!" Clair interrupted with her own command. Pippy couldn't even blink before the attack came. Kingdra spewed a pillar of pink-purple smoke from its snout at Pippy, singing hi chest in an instant. The small electric mouse stumbled back, clutching his chest which was charred and blackened. Joe's eyes widened in fear.

"Pippy, are you okay?" He called. Pippy glanced back and nodded weakly. He looked exhausted, but he wasn't giving up just yet. Joe clenched his fists. Clair clearly wasn't going to give him a chance to act. He'd have to attack quickly in order to land a hit before she did. "Can you still attack?" He asked. Pippy nodded. "Good." Joe threw an arm outwards. "Use thunderbolt!" He commanded. Pippy sparked and fired a bolt of electricity. It struck Kingdra with ease. It didn't even try to dodge it. But when the attack was over it was still standing, barely hurt by the attack. Joe looked stunned. "But… how?" He asked. Clair made her own command now.

"Hyper Beam!" She roared.

There was a sudden gust of wind as Ralph shot from his place at Joe's side. He flew out towards Pippy as Kingdra gathered light in its snout. Joe watched him speed away, looking out in horror. He was going to protect Pippy. There was nothing he could do to stop him. He was already too far away to ever stop. He was moving too fast for Joe to chase after him. And Clair wasn't going to stop her attack. Kingdra was almost fully charged now. Ralph reached Pippy, throwing himself in front of the tired pikachu and shielding with his wings. And then Kingdra fired. A massive beam of pure light energy erupted from the end of the seahorse pokémon's mussel, blinding everything the vicinity. It launched at Ralph and Pippy, engulfing them in half a second. They had no chance to avoid it. Joe watched in horror as his pokémon were enveloped by the attack, and disappeared from sight. He shielded his eyes, the light proving too strong to stare at. After ten seconds of scorching heat and colour the attack finally stopped. Joe looked back at his pokémon. Pippy was unconscious. He hadn't stood a chance, and Ralph's defence had proved ineffective after all. Ralph himself was still awake, but only just. He was hanging on by a thread, barely able to move. His wings had been crumpled up, the heat and force breaking his strength and leaving him a harmless target.

"Ralph." Joe muttered, barely able to talk himself. His voice had been stolen by Clair's overpowered pokémon. Ralph tried to push himself up with his wings, but couldn't gather the strength to do so. Clair grinned evilly.

"I think that means I win." She said proudly. Joe closed his eyes tight. When he opened them again he did so to glare at Clair with hatred.

"That was hardly fair." He told her. "You attacked two of my pokémon at once. One of them wasn't even a part of this battle yet." Clair folder her arms.

"He got in the way." She told him simply. "I think it's probably more of your fault he went out like that." Joe clenched his fists in annoyance.

"It's against the rules to attack a pokémon that isn't a part off the battle." Joe insisted.

"Not if they get in the way of the fight." Clair told him.

"Then I demand a rematch!" Joe called stubbornly. He wasn't going to give up just yet. He was going to defeat her. He had too. If he didn't he'd never be strong enough to fight Archer. Clair gave him a cold glare.

"No." She said simply. Joe looked furiously stunned.

"No?" He repeated. "You can't say no! You're a gym leader! You're supposed to accept challenges from trainers!" Clair folder her arms tighter.

"I can accept any challenge I want." She told him. "I can also refuse a challenger. Remember, I only battle tough opponents and it is clear you aren't one of them." She turned aside. "Now get out!" She snapped coldly.

Joe felt an infernal rage building up inside of him. "You can't just turn me away!" He shouted. "I need your gym badge! I came all this way to fight you! I defeated three of your pokémon! You have to fight me again. You have to give me your gym badge!" Clair closed her eyes snootily.

"I don't have to do anything if I don't want to." She said childishly. "Now get out, before I throw you out myself!"

Joe stood his ground and folded his own arms defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere!" He stated stubbornly.

Twenty seconds later he found himself being thrown out by Clair herself. He had certainly been surprised to learn that she was not only fierce but also surprisingly strong. Her grip had been completely unbreakable. She shoved him forwards, causing him to fall face first onto the street. Ralph landed beside him, coughing a little with exhaustion. Joe had managed to withdraw Pippy before he was thrown out, so luckily he didn't get flung from the gym too. Clair stood in the doorway, glaring at him.

"If you're smart you won't come back!" She stated cruelly. "If you've got a problem with that, take it up with the elder in the cave!" Then she shut the doors, placing up a closed sign behind her. Joe groaned.

"Rude witch!" He muttered coldly. Ralph nodded in agreement.

Joe felt like a total failure. He had failed to defeat the last Johto gym leader. He had failed to obtain his eight badge. And he wasn't allowed to try again. It was all over. He was never going to stand a chance against Archer if he couldn't even defeat all the gym leaders. He had lost.

He stood up slowly, feeling ruined. "Let's just go." He muttered. Ralph crawled after him, not yet able to fly again. He looked up at his trainer, feeling worried for him. Joe said nothing more. He just walked back over to the pokémon centre, feeling very disappointed in himself and very angry at Clair.

* * *

"Oi, prisoner!" The rocket grunt who'd been placed on guard duty snapped through the door's cracked glass window. Danning looked up. "There's a visitor here for you." The guard called to him. Danning's head drooped again. He didn't look hopeful. It was probably Archer coming back to torture him further. "I'm sending her in." The guard told him. "Don't even think of discussing an escape plan!" Danning looked up again. 'Her?' He thought. The door opened and he gasped.

"Crystal!" He muttered weakly. His voice had dried up and weakened since they'd thrown him in his cell. The young girl stepped into the makeshift cell, holding her arms and looking extremely nervous.

"Hey, Danning." She muttered apprehensively. "Are… are you okay? They didn't hurt you much, did they?" Danning shook his head.

"No." He told her. "They've just starved me, that's all." Crystal nodded. "What are you doing here?" He asked. Crystal shrugged.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She said. Danning felt surprisingly contented by that.

"Thank you." He said, coughing weakly and wracking with muscle ache. He didn't attempt to move from where he sat.

"You've got two minutes." The guard told the young girl. Then he closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone in the room. Crystal took a step forwards, but didn't get any closer. Danning's smile faded slowly.

"They didn't hurt you to get to me, did they?" He asked caringly.

"Why did you do it, Danning?" She asked, sounding hurt. Danning looked her in the eyes. She was close to breaking already. "Why did you try and escape? Why did you have to bring me into it?" Danning held his head ashamed.

"I didn't want to." He admitted. "I wanted you to be out of this completely. You're my only friend, Crystal." He said solemnly. "The only one I have left. I never wanted you to get hurt. But I had to leave, and so do you. This place isn't for us, it certainly isn't for you. You need to get out, go far away, find that boy you ran into, stay with him, go anywhere but here. If you don't then Team Rocket will consume you. You'll never leave. You'll just be arrested in the end or die, either one is probably as bad as the other." Danning looked up again, real sorrow in his eyes but he did not shed a tear. "Please…" He begged. "Please, for me, save yourself." Crystal began to form tears in her eyes. She held her arms close to her body, nerves taking their toll completely.

"I can't leave, Danning, do you understand that?" She told him both sharply and regretfully. "If I try, they'll throw me in here with you. They've already tortured me, hurt me and beaten me to near death. I can't… I can't do it." She began to sob. "I… I'm scared." She muttered through her tears. "I can't…. I can't…. I can't leave… or they'll just kill me." Danning looked at her. She had been through so much. Too much. She didn't deserve what he'd gotten. She was too young for all this. Fourteen wasn't the right age to go through this.

"Crystal, Please…" Danning tried to say. "You need to go. Stay here and you'll forever hate yourself. You'll never get away from your pain. You'll be forced to live with it, never learning that the world isn't supposed to be like this." He paused. "Please, not for my sake but your own, get out of here as soon as possible. Please." Crystal hung her own head now. "You're the only person on this planet that even slightly cares about me anymore." Danning continued. Crystal looked back at him. "My wife left me three years ago." He went on. "My daughter's in some foreign country doing not very appropriate things. My parent's disowned me. My brother wants me dead. My own son even thinks I'm a monster. He's only eight." He looked back up at Crystal. "You're the only one left who gives a damn about me." He told her. "So please, just leave me here to rot… and save yourself."

There was a banging on the door now.

"Time's up!" The guard snapped through the glass. "You need to leave now, miss."

Crystal nodded. "I'm going." She told him, wiping away her tears. She glanced back at Danning. She didn't have anything further to say. She could only feel sorry for him, and not much more. She did manage to say a few final parting words before she left however. "I'm sorry, Danning." She said sadly. "You didn't deserve this."

Danning looked back at her. "Yes I did." He told her. Crystal stepped through the door and the guard closed it behind her, giving a dirty glance at Danning as he did so. Danning was left alone again in his dirty room which had been turned into a makeshift prison, holding his head and looking to the ground. He was alone again. He would remain alone for the rest of his life.

Crystal headed back up the hallway. She was going to her room. She was too tired for anything else today. She was struggling to keep back her tears anyway. As she stepped out from the hallway and into the large garage area a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Crystal." It said in a simple and calm but commanding voice. Crystal stopped mid step. She turned back. Ariana was walking towards her, a nasty smile on her face. "There you are." She said, sounding worryingly malicious. Crystal turned to face her.

"What do you want?" She asked, sounding very worried and frightened but doing her best to hide it.

"Archer wants to see you." She told her. Crystal felt her heart drop and her knees weaken.

"W-why?" She asked, shaking a little and gaining a fearful stutter.

"It's confidential." She told her. "Now follow me."

Crystal followed the redheaded Rocket Commander to Archer's office, feeling incredibly nervous and slightly worried for her life. Ariana opened the door and let her in.

"He's waiting inside." She told her. Then she shoved her into the office.

"Sit down, Crystal." Archer told her sternly, but not angrily. His face was covered in darkness right now. The room light was off, so only shadow could be seen. Crystal obligingly sat down at her seat.

"Y-you want to see me?" She asked. Archer nodded in the dark.

"Yes, I did." He told her simply. "I have a new mission for you."

Crystal sighed. "Please, Archer…" She muttered. "I'm tired. I haven't slept in days. Can't you ask someone else to do this task for you?"

"No." Archer said simply. Crystal was surprised that her comment hadn't made him snap. If any other grunt had said something like it they'd be hanging by their small toe from the roof by now. But Archer was being stubborn about it. "This task is specific to you. It must be you and only you who performs it, or else it will not work."

Crystal sighed. She wasn't going to get out of it now. "All right." She said weakly. "What do you want me to do?" She asked. Archer leaned forwards on his desk, and switched the lamp on. His face was illuminated. Crystal gasped quietly. He wasn't wearing his mask. She got to see his face fully now. His short cyan blue hair glittered slightly in the light. Archer looked at her, and said his command.

"A squad of men is going to Blackthorn city to capture that annoying trainer and his crobat, and their friends if we ca find them all." He told her simply. "I want you to find them for me. They know you, so they should trust you… And I want you to lead them back to us."

Crystal looked stunned.

* * *

 **I would just like to say a thank you to everyone who has read this far. It hasn't been easy writing with university going on and problems at home, but I'm glad to know that people still read this story and still enjoy it.**

 **I'd just like to place a benchmark here. This is not only the last gym battle chapter, but also the last chapter before the big event.**

 _ **"A confrontation is coming. It cannot be avoided. And not everyone who goes to war comes back."**_


	30. Chapter 30: The Proving

Joe did as he had promised Winter before he'd left. He rested up for the night. Though he wasn't happy about it, he was grateful to be able to relax after walking so much, stressing out and getting into several battles. He didn't sleep though. He just found himself staring up at the pokémon centre's ceiling, his eyes following the small cracks and forming patterns in them. He lay on his back, looking up. The moon's light shone through a window, supplying a small slither of blue light to see by. He was angry still. Angry at Clair, and the battle they had had. She had cheated with that move, even if technically it was legal it wasn't fare. Ralph shouldn't have flown out like that yes, but at the same time Pippy wouldn't have been strong enough to face an attack like that. He did the right thing, and Clair disqualified him. She kicked him out, for no other reason than she didn't want to fight him. She's a gym leader. That's her job, to fight. If she doesn't like doing it, why take up the position then. He groaned in annoyance. Her attitude had riled him up. Whitney had defeated him also, but she had been a young girl with a strong pokémon that used strategy. She deserved the win she got. She also wasn't rude and disrespectful anywhere near as much as Clair was. Well he had already made his decision. He was going to do as she suggested. He was going to go find the elder in the cave, first thing in the morning. His pokémon were healthy, his mind was set. He could deal with whatever they organised down there.

He rolled over on his mattress. On the bed beside him Winter lay. She had fallen asleep long ago, entering another dimension of awareness to him, leaving him behind for the night. He looked at her back. She seemed weirdly peaceful. How could she rest so easily? How could so stop for one second, when they all know what was going on, when they all knew what was at stake. These questions bothered him. He wanted to be able to relax, but something wasn't letting him. A small niggling sensation at the back of his head warned him from looking away from anything for a second. Meian's words suddenly began to repeat over and over in his head.

'By the end of this war, someone you put your trust in will betray you, and someone you love will be lost forever.'

But who could he trust. Did he really trust his friends? He trusted Ralph. He knew that Ralph would never betray him, no matter what. He trusted Winter also. But was that wise. Winter was only human. She could be manipulated, she could be tricked, just like anyone else, just like he could. Could he even trust Silver? If he hadn't got to know him since they'd first met he would have instantly said yes. But the truth was he did know Silver now. Silver was a much better man then he seemed. He wasn't cruel hearted. He wasn't disloyal. He was a good friend it had turned out, just a misunderstood boy. He had certainly done a lot of growing up since they're first met. Who else could he not trust? His father? His uncle? Granted, they had both been a part of Team Rocket, his father much more recently so. But something told him they were reliable. So who? Maybe someone he hadn't met yet. Maybe someone he didn't know too well. Maybe someone he'd barely spoken to once. The problem was there was no way to know till it happened. But what off the other thing he'd said. Someone you love will be lost forever. Joe knew what that meant. He didn't need to think to figure it out. Someone he cared for would die. Joe glanced back at Winter. She breathed slowly, a quiet whisper of breathe exhaling every few seconds from her nose. Joe hugged his sheet.

"If I am to loose anyone." He whispered, closing his eyes in prayer. "Please, dear god please… let it not be her."

The morning came too slowly. Joe opened his eyes again and instead of moonlight, sunlight was flooding through the small window. He was lying on his side, the sheets up to his neck. Winter had rolled onto her back, moving slightly. She too was waking up. The day was starting again, and Joe knew what he was going to do.

"You can't really be planning to go out and fight Clair again, Can you?" Winter said astonished, twenty minutes later once she, Joe and Silver had gotten up and discussed their plans outside of the pokémon centre. Joe nodded firmly.

"She used an unfair move to defeat me yesterday, then she kicked me out because I bored her." He stated with an annoyed tone. "I'm going to go back and demand a rematch." Winter sighed, starting to get very fed up of Joe's arrogantly determined attempts to prove himself.

"Joe, she's already said she won't fight you." She told him. "Maybe this is the time to just give up and move on."

"You don't understand, Winter." Joe told her, breathing quicker with annoyance. "I need to fight her. I need to be strong, to face what's coming."

"Maybe we should just let him, Winter." Silver suggested. Winter pushed him aside, ignoring him completely.

"But why?" She asked him. Joe glared at her.

"Why?" He said.

"Why must you get stronger? What can you face we cannot help you with?" Her question had made the young boy pause.

"Why?..." He repeated. Ralph looked at his trainer. It was clear, even to him, that Joe was beginning to lose it a little. All he'd been thinking for the last day or so was about getting stronger. It was already taking control off him. The brown haired boy tapped his foot. "Why." He repeated again. "Because I'm the one who's facing Archer, as I did once before, and you saw how that went." He reminded her. "He thrashed me, with just one pokémon. I need to be stronger then I am so I can stop him. If I fail at that then everyone else will pay the price for that failure."

"Archer released his pokémon." Winter told him. "We've already run into two of them. He probably has no pokémon to use anymore. So why do you really need to be strong."

"I just…" Joe tried to say. He found that his tongue was getting in the way of his words. "I just need to." He said finally.

"That's not an answer, Joe." Winter stated.

"Please stop it." Joe muttered. "I don't have time to talk about this. I need to find the elder. I need to confront him and Clair." Winter stepped in front of him.

"No you don't." She snapped simply. "You're staying here. You don't need to fight anyone. You don't need to prove anything."

"Move aside, Winter." Joe said quietly. He stepped past his friend and walked away. Ralph followed after him. Winter watched him attempts to walk away.

"This is because of Sting, isn't it?" She called after him suddenly. Joe stopped. "You're still hung up on his death." Slowly he turned back to her. "That's it, isn't it?" She realised. "That's what this is all about." Silver looked between the two of them.

"Who's Sting?" He asked. Winter turned to him, giving him a sharp stare that told him to shut up.

"Sting was the first pokémon I ever caught." Joe explained simply.

"What was he?" Silver asked further. Joe closed his eyes and sighed.

"He was a beedrill." He told him. Silver looked stunned.

"That's it?" He asked, sounding stunned and offended. "That's what this was all about. You're getting back at Archer because he killed your bee?"

"Silver, shut your god damn mouth!" Joe hissed. "He was my friend. He was my first caught pokémon. He meant a lot to me."

"But dude…" Silver interrupted. "That's not healthy. That's your only reason for taking him down? The only one you've had all this time?" He asked.

"Not the only reason." Joe told him. "More have come up since then, but that was the one that started this for me."

"We don't even know if it was Team Rocket that killed him." Winter reminded him. Joe shook his head.

"It was them." He muttered quietly, holding his head low. "I know it was them."

"But Joe, this is exactly what I'm saying." Winter told him. "You need to let go. I hate to say it, but Sting died months ago now. It's October, and Sting's long buried. There's nothing you can do to change that. But driving yourself mad won't help you. Keeping that grief in you won't help. You need to let it go, for once in your god damn life. Just learn to let go of that pain. Archer wants you dead, and if you're still like this by the time he gets to you then you'll never defeat him." Joe felt his fists began to clench up, but Winter was still going, getting angrier now. "You think that continuously going on like this is going to fix it all, but it won't. You're just going to tire yourself out. Well I've got news for you, Joe. People die. Pokémon die. And often there's nothing you can do to save them. But you have to move on. You have to leave them behind and keep going. You need to grow up!" Joe glared at her, furiously.

"Grow up!" He repeated. His fists balled at his sides. He turned around fully to face her. "What the hell are you trying to imply?!" He demanded.

Winter was a little taken aback by how angry he was. "I didn't mean…" She tried to say.

"No!" Joe shouted at her. "No! Don't go back on what you said! What did you mean by that?! You don't think I have tried?!"

"I was only trying to say…" Winter stuttered. But Joe wasn't listening. Her comment had enraged him.

"I don't care what you were trying to say!" He snapped at her, his voice loud. "Do you think I'm stupid?! Do you think I'm an Idiot?! I haven't travelled all this way just to give up, and I'm not going to let you stop me when I'm so close!?"

"Joe, please just calm down." Winter begged. But Joe didn't calm down. He only got angrier. Ralph tried to put a wing around his shoulders, but Joe shrugged him off. "Do you know who you're starting to sound like?" Winter told him. "You're beginning to sound just like him."

"Shut up!" Joe snapped. The whole street fell quiet. "Just shut up, for god's sake." He glared at his oldest friend. "I am not like him!" He swore. "I am nothing like him, and I never will be!" He stepped back. "What kind of friend are you to even think that?!"

"Joe…" Silver tried to say. Joe ignored him completely.

"Do you even care about what's going on?" He yelled at the girl before him. "Do you even respect everything I have to do, everything I've been through?"

"Yes, of course I do." Winter told him.

"Really?" Joe asked coldly. "Because right now it seems you don't. Since we started this journey in Johto all you've wanted to do is stop and turn back. Every chance you've gotten you've told me to let go, to turn back, to give up, and to let him win."

"That's not what I meant." Winter told him quickly. Joe was breathing heavily now, rage welling in him. He looked up from the ground and glared at him.

"Just go, Winter!" He stated simply.

Winter looked at him, her face falling. "What?" She asked.

"You heard me…" Joe told her, his voice much quieter now. "If you're just going to get in the way then you should just go!" He said. "So go on! Go!" Winter looked at him. She felt her heart begin to break.

"But… Joe…." She stuttered. "I…" She began to choke on her own words. Joe didn't give her a chance to talk.

"I don't care how you feel about it." He told her cruelly. "I don't care what you think of me. I have to stop Archer. I need to stop him. And if you're just going to get in the way then go!" He turned away. "Some friend you are." He muttered.

Winter stared at him, ruined. Her heart had completely snapped in two. She held her head.

"I've done more for you then you could even understand." She said quietly. Joe didn't move. A small amount of anger began to build up in her. "What's a hero without his friends?" She told him coldly.

Joe didn't look back at her as she left. He had wanted to. He had wanted to apologise, but he knew he couldn't. Winter was just in his way right now, and he needed to get ready to fight. She was probably safer way from anyway. But those last words. She had said them so hurtfully. Joe couldn't help but feel hurt also.

Winter turned and walked away.

"Look out for him, Silver." She said as she past him. "He'll need someone to do that."

"Where will you go?" Silver asked her.

"I dunno." She said quietly. "Probably not too far."

"I'm sorry, Winter." Silver said kindly. Winter didn't respond. She pulled her bag up and walked off, heading away into the city. Silver turned back to Joe. He was still standing there, not talking, not moving. "You were like a brother to her." Silver told him. Joe looked up slowly. "Did you know that?" He asked.

Joe felt a part of him go cold. He was already feeling lost without her beside him. But he'd never admit it. "That doesn't matter now." Joe told him sternly. "I've made my choice… and she's made hers. All that matters is Team Rocket and their leader. That's all I care about."

"I'll stick with you, Joe." Silver told him.

"Thank you." Joe told him.

"But…" Silver continued.

"Please don't…" Joe said quietly. It was clear he too was struggling with his choices. He sighed. "Just forget it, please." He asked of him, wanting to already forget about their fight. "Let's just go. We need to get to the cave and find the elder."

* * *

As it turned out the cave they were looking for was at the base of the mountainside to the south of the city, past the giant lake that sat behind the gym. It was called the Dragon's Den, which considering the gym leader's pokémon seemed pretty fitting. Joe and Silver made their way across with Ralph, riding on the back of Cyclone, who had been able to rest at the pokémon centre. All of Joe's pokémon had been able to rest overnight. He had left them in the pokémon centres healing machine to regain their strength. Ralph meanwhile had felt better after getting a good sleep. Seemed fitting enough. Joe was already feeling really bad for what he'd said. But he didn't look back. He couldn't and not because Silver was sitting behind him. He had to move on, to keep going. He couldn't let his friendship relationship with his friends get in the way of what he had to do. And it was because of this he desperately wished it was someone else who was doing this and not him.

They reached the opposite shore with ease, barely taking much more than a few minutes. The cave entrance was just in front of them, up a small set of at most seven stone steps. The hollow hole billowed like a snoring giant in a deep slumber. The two trainers stepped towards it.

"You sure you want to go in there?" Silver asked.

"I'm not turning back now." Joe told him simply.

"Whatever you say." Silver agreed faithfully. "If you'd like to go in alone I could go find Winter for you…"

"Don't." Joe interrupted him. "I need a friend with me right now." He told him. "And you are a friend." Silver smiled back at him.

"Thanks." He said warmly. The two of them looked into the cave. "Shall we go in?" Silver asked. Joe nodded. The two of them stepped into the darkness, Ralph following beside them.

The cave wasn't dark, nor was it small. In fact, the second they were inside and had started their walk down another longer set of stairs, they realised that the entire place, every single inch of it, was underwater. The two trainers sighed in annoyance. That meant more swimming. That did admit that they should have expected this. The cave was right outside a lake, so it was only naturally water would be inside it. At the end of the steps was a small outstretching area of rock, leading a little out to the lake. And far away from that, sitting nearly directly at the centre of the underground lake, floating opposite on wooden stilts, was a small oriental house with a small dock in front of it. No one could have guessed how or why it was there, but it was, sitting defiantly in the middle of the water. Surprisingly none of it seemed to have rotted, considering the whole house was made of wood and paper.

"How do you suppose that got there?" Silver asked, looking in surprised admiration at it.

"I don't really care." Joe said quietly. He was still lingering on what had happened a minute ago. "That's probably where the elder will be, so we should start swimming already."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Silver asked him, looking worried.

"I'm fine." Joe lied. He stepped up to the rock edge, his back to Silver. "Let's just go." He muttered. Silver shrugged and joined him at the edge. Joe released Cyclone again and commanded her to swim them across the water. She obliged obediently, not concerned at all by why her trainer was so upset looking today. Ralph however was very worried by this. He was very worried about this. He had been on edge for a while now, pretty much since they'd gotten to Johto. But after he'd gone missing, and after they'd found that tag, he had really become on edge. He was so desperate to get stronger, so desperate to prove himself. But what would that come to. Why did he feel this way? Ralph wondered what he could do to help hid friend. He followed Joe and Silver as they swam across the water on Cyclone's red scaled back, heading towards the Japanese style hut in the middle of the underground lake. Joe was quiet all the way across, hot looking up for a single second.

When they reached the wooden dock they could hear voices coming from inside the house. Slowly they climbed up onto the wood, keeping quiet so they could hear what was being said and so that they didn't disturb them. The voices were loud enough to make out what they were saying.

"I'm telling you, he was inadequate for the badge." One voice said. "He tried to demand it, saying something about needing it, though he didn't say why. When I said no, he refused to leave. I had no choice but to ban him from the gym." There was the sound of a sigh following after her words, but from another mouth.

"Clair, my dear, why do you constantly do this?" They asked in an elderly voice. "The boy was probably just intent of completing his collection. That doesn't mean you have to ban him. You could have just destroyed someone's lifelong dream."

"I don't care." The first voice said simply. "He should have paid more respect to me. If he wanted my badge he shouldn't have demanded it and maybe trainer up a little before our fight."

The first voice was clearly Clair's, but the others wasn't recognisable. It was clearly someone they hadn't met yet. The second voice tutted.

"Your attitude does not help you." He told her simply. "You act to irrationally for a gym leader. You'll need to learn to control yourself, otherwise who'd want to battle you ever. Even trainers who are stronger then you will steer clear of you. Then you'd lose your job."

Joe and Silver walked up to the doorway, withdrawing Cyclone again so they didn't leave her out there alone.

"What are you suggesting?" Clair asked, sounding bothered. "That I go back and accept his challenge, after the way he acted?"

"I'm saying you should think more before you act, and that you should be willing to battle fairly and accept challenges from weaker trainers." The other voice explained. "You'll never grow as a trainer if you don't do that."

Joe pushed open the door and entered the house. Two figures were standing in the only room the made up the small building. One was Clair, still kitted up in her gym attire. The other was a wrinkled elderly mad in a long grey monk cloak. They turned and stared at the two newcomers with uncommon expectance. It seemed they knew that they would be coming here at some point. Joe and Silver stepped inside. There was an awkward silence from the two boys.

"And who might you two be?" The elderly man asked.

"That's the boy who challenged me yesterday." Clair told him for them. "I told him if he didn't like it he should take it up with you, Elder." The Elder looked at Clair.

"Oh, you did?" He asked. Joe stepped forward.

"My name's Joe." He said forwardly. "I came here to talk about obtaining the eighth Johto gym badge." He explained. The Elder nodded.

"I see." He said. He looked at Silver. "And who is your friend?" He asked.

Silver coughed. "I'm Silver." He told him quietly. The Elder nodded. Then he turned to Clair.

"He does not look like much trouble to me." He told her.

Clair looked slightly annoyed. "That's definitely him." She stated simply. "He lost our fight, then he started to demand the badge from me. I say you should just turn him away like I did."

"I will decide that, Clair." The Elder interrupted her. "Besides, I'm sure he has his reasons for being so rude." He turned to Joe again. "So young man, why do you need all eight gym badges?" He asked.

"Because I need to get strong enough to defeat Team Rocket." Joe told him simply. The Elder hummed.

"And you believe getting all eight gym badges will do that?" He asked.

"Yes." Joe nodded.

"I see." The Elder said, his short beard making his voice wisp slightly. "And why are you fighting Team Rocket?" He asked him.

"Because they killed one of my pokémon." Joe explained. The Elder nodded solemnly.

"I have heard that often." He explained. "Many trainers have been trying to fight back, only to have their pokémon stolen from them."

"No, you misunderstand." Joe interrupted him. "They killed one of my pokémon, back in Kanto a few months ago."

"Killed." The Elder repeated in shock. "That really is bad. I had thought Team Rocket had moved on from methods like that years ago."

Joe seemed to get angry now, though not at the Elder. "Trust me, they haven't changed in the slightest." He said with a low growl of hatred. The Elder tutted sadly.

"So it seems you are on a noble enough quest to stop them." He said. "All by yourselves?"

"It's not just us two." Silver spoke up suddenly. "We had another friend with us, but she…" He glanced at Joe. "She didn't want to come in here, so she's waiting outside. There's also others. Joe's uncle helps him a bit and…"

"Enough, Silver." Joe said quietly. Silver stopped talking. Joe knew he was about to mention his father. He didn't want that, not right here, not right now. The Elder nodded. Then he turned back to Clair.

"You see?" He said with a small smile. "There was a reason he was so demanding yesterday. He was not intentionally rude. Just on his own personal mission. Could you really deny that when he came so close to defeating you?" He asked.

"Well, no…" Clair agreed. "But rules are rules. He lost fair and square."

"It's hardly fare to use one attack and take out two pokémon." The Elder told her.

Clair looked like she was about to blow steam. "It flew out in front of the attack!" She argued.

"That's not an excuse anymore." The Elder told her. Clair clenched her fists in annoyance. "But enough arguing for now." The Elder said, bringing that discussion to a halt. "You came here to obtain your last needed gym badge, so you may do so." Joe looked suddenly a lot happier than he had been. A small smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you." He said.

"But…" The Elder continued. "I cannot just give it to you. Tradition says that you must still prove you deserve it. Do not worry. I will not ask Clair to battle you again."

"I wouldn't accept anyway." Clair reminded them, folding her arms arrogantly as she stood to the side.

"I don't mind what you have me do." Joe told him. "I just need that gym badge today." The Elder nodded.

"I understand." He told him. "Then your test will be simple. You must defeat one pokémon."

Joe and Silver looked surprised.

"Only one?" Silver asked. The Elder nodded.

"Yes. One." He told them. "Though I can assure you, this one pokémon is a lot stronger then it may seem."

"I don't really care." Joe told him, though not rudely. "I just want to get this done."

"Very well." The elder took a few steps back, giving Joe some room in front of him. "May I see your whole team?" He asked. Joe looked a little confused. "I merely wish to see who has helped you get this far." The Elder explained. "I can see that you already have one with you now. I'd wish to see the rest."

"One of them isn't big enough to fit in here." Joe told him.

"Then have it released outside where there is space." The Elder said simply. Joe nodded. One by one he unclipped his pokeballs and released them. The last one was the serene ball that Lance had given him, which he released through the doorway and into the water. He put his bag down and let Casey out of it, placing him on the floor beside the rest of his team. All of Joe's team were out now. Ralph the Crobat, Pippy the Pikachu, Leaf the Meganium, Quill the Typhlosion, and even the little togepi Casey. There was the sound of monstrous thrashing in the water outside, then a roar. The Elder glanced through the doorway to see Cyclone the Gyarados floating outside, trying to get comfortable in the shallow water. He stepped back in. "So this is your whole team?" He asked.

"Yes." Joe told him.

"Were they the same pokémon you had in Kanto?" He asked.

"No." Joe told him. "I only Pippy and Ralph were with me then. I had other pokémon back then, and I've had more as well." Joe looked at his team beside him. They all looked so honourable, so powerful, no matter what size they were. He was so proud of all of them. They had gotten him this fare, and they had never given up, on him or on themselves. He couldn't have been more grateful to have them by his side. The Elder smiled.

"Very well." He stated suddenly. "I believe you may indeed be able to take on my challenge." He stated. Joe looked back to him and nodded.

"Thank you." He said, slightly happier than he had been.

The Elder reached a hand into his internal pocket and pulled out a simple red pokeball. "In this pokeball…" He explained. "Is one of the most powerful dragon types any trainer has used in this entire region? I even dare say the only person with any stronger than this is Lance." Clair coughed disrespectfully. The Elder looked at her, then ignored her and continued. "But the only rule I place is that neither of us, not you, not me, may command what our pokémon do." He explained. "They must decide for themselves what action to take, what moves to perform and what attacks to dodge. That is the true test." The Elder crossed his arms, holding the pokeball in his hands. "Are you still willing to take this test?" He asked.

Joe didn't even think twice. He nodded his head immediately. "Yes." He said quickly. "No matter what pokémon you use, I will never say no." He stated simply. The Elder smiled.

"Chose which of your pokémon you want to take this challenge for you." He told the young man.

Joe looked at his team. They were all strong in their own way, and very capable of taking down even really tough opponents on most days. But this wasn't just a test to see how strong his team was. It was a test to see how much he trusted them, and whether they trusted him back. Joe trusted all his pokémon, even Cyclone who could prove to be trouble sometimes. But there was only one of them he really, truly, genuinely trusted, as if they were a human being like he was. He turned to Ralph.

"Seeing as how you didn't get a chance to fight yesterday…" He said with a smile. "Can you win this fight for us?" Ralph smiled back at his trainer. He was more then happy to have a chance to fight. The Elder nodded.

"So you have made up your choice?" He asked. Joe turned back and nodded himself.

"Yes." He said. "My Crobat is going to fight for me."

"Does he have a name?" The Elder asked.

"His name is Ralph." Joe told him.

The Elder bowed. "Then the challenge is conferred and thus confirmed." He stated. He unfolded his arms. "And now you shall meet your opponent." He said. He held out the pokeball and opened it. A red beam flashed from it and at the Elder's feet a long light blue and white dragon snake appeared. The dratini looked at Joe and his team with almost innocent eyes. Joe had to admit he was a little surprised. The way the Elder had worded it, he'd expected him to have a giant dragonite or something like it.

Silver snickered. "That's what he's fighting?" He said, trying to hold in laughs. "A tiny Dratini?"

The Elder smiled at them. "I assure you, this dratini is a lot more powerful then he may seem." He folded his arms again, waiting for Silver to calm down a bit.

"Silver, could you step out of the way, please." Joe asked, giving his friend an annoyed look. Silver stopped laughing as he saw his expression.

"Uh, yeah, of course." He muttered, taking a few steps back and to the wall, out of the way completely.

"The rules are simple." The Elder explained. "A one on one pokémon match, using only one pokémon each. No commands, no encouragement, just the skill of our pokémon to rely on." He explained. "So, are you ready to take this test?" He asked. Joe nodded.

"I am." He said truthfully. The Elder smiled.

"Then let's begin."

The Elder clicked his finger, and battle began.

Ralph initially thought he'd have a few seconds to plan an attack, but as the battle began he quickly realised how wrong he was. Dratini lunged at him immediately, throwing itself at its target like a large heavy snake. Ralph barely had time to move. He darted back just in time, literally inches away from where Dratini landed, striking the air he'd left behind him. It had move so fast, impossibly so. It had been more then a blur when it moved. In fact it barely appeared to have moved at all. That's what had surprised Ralph. He hadn't realised it was even moving till it was right in front of him. At least he knew to watch out for that now, but there also the problem of hitting it. If this Dratini could move that fast, then it could easily dodge any of his attacks with ease. The small dragon was preparing for another attack. Ralph didn't have much more time to think.

He flew at it, wings wide to strike and glistening silver. When he was about to strike Dratini released its own attack, a strong blast of electricity right under Ralph's wing. The attack shocked him and caused him to flinch. He bit his jaws together as the static sparked over to him and he dropped to the ground, the electricity clipping his wings for a few seconds. He crawled away, not turning his back for a second in case it tried to attack again. Dratini was already moving again, pulling of another lightning fast body attack. Ralph couldn't even dodge this one. He tried to by rolling out of the way the second he saw movement, but because he was grounded Dratini was able to quickly change course and attack him again. The strike knocked him flat, his wings folding under him as he winced. Dratini darted back again, barely even moving as it did so, its underbelly sliding across the wooden floor like butter over marble.

Joe crossed his fingers, praying for his pokémon to win by his own instinct. He had been through a battle like this once before, back in Kanto when a bunch of criminals unrelated to Team Rocket had kidnapped him and forced his bulbasaur Pitt to battle in their arena. Fortunately Pitt had won that, but the pokémon he'd been battling were pretty weak in comparison to this one. Ralph was strong, Joe believed that truly, but Dratini was also strong. On top of that it had a strategy. Strength was nothing compared to good strategy. He could only hope that Ralph could get back up quickly and come up with his own plan to fight back against it.

"Come on, Ralph." Joe whispered. "You can do this, buddy."

Slowly Ralph pushed himself up onto his wings. He glared at the Dratini in front of him. He could see a beam of cyan frozen light forming in its mouth. An ice beam. It was nearly ready to fire. He gritted his teeth and readied his muscles. He had a pan in mind. He didn't have the strength to fly back yet, but he could still crawl and move. He waited for Dratini, and Dratini fired. The thin and sharp beam of ice shot from its mouth like an arrow of winter, flying at its large purple target. Ralph rolled. He dodged aside the attack just in time as the spear of cold barely touched the skin of his wing. He pushed himself back up quickly on his four wings and ran at Dratini, using them as makeshift legs. He jumped and lunged at the dragon, striking it with a Cross Poison. The small dragon snake flinched backwards, the force of Ralph's attack proving to be so strong that it kicked it backwards. It didn't spend long being hurt however.

The second it recovered from the surprise of the attack it was lunging again, throw itself full body at Ralph. Ralph jumped backwards and took off again, his wings finally regaining the strength to fly. He fluttered backwards, out of range of another lunge attack. If Dratini wanted to land another physical hit it'd have to get closer, and that was what Ralph wanted. He would wait for it to come to him, when its defences were down. He'd just dodge all the ranged attacks it made at him till then, and wait patiently for it to get close enough for another cross poison.

Dratini began to crawl forwards, slowly. It pushed itself along the same way a snake did, using its tail muscles as one large treadmill foot. For some reason it wasn't moving fast, as if it didn't want to land an attack at all. Then it stopped all together, about half the distance of the room away from Ralph. It sat at the centre, not turning its eyes away from its similar sized opponent. It opened its mouth as if to yawn, but instead of breathing out carbon dioxide, it breathed out fire. Ralph shot backwards in surprise, avoiding being singed by a hairs length. The attack had come without warning. Dratini had taken so long to make it that Ralph hadn't seen it coming at all. It seemed that it was thinking a way around his strategy, the same way he had thought a way around it's.

The Elder stood with his arms crossed wisely, watching the battle through his aged squinting eyes with interest. He was taking down details about everything Ralph was doing and logging them away in his intellectual mind. Clair however looked like she couldn't care less. If she had been chewing bubblegum she would have blown a bubble and popped it in the most carefree way someone could. She hardly seemed to care that this battle was to decide if the trainer she currently hated deserved her gym badge.

Joe was clenching his hands open and closed, his palms sweating a little. He had no control over what would happen. This was all up to Ralph. He trusted his friend, without a doubt at all. But would that be enough? Would that win it for him?

Dratini started to move again, regaining the space Ralph had just grown between them so that its next attack could land successfully. Ralph prepared to dart back away from another flamethrower. And then Dratini used Extremespeed. Ralph dodged back, but he didn't avoid Dratini's attack. He had been expecting another flamethrower. Everything about its movement had told him to expect flamethrower. So he'd dodged for that attack, not expecting this one instead. So this was its real strategy. To trick him. To make him think it was planning one thing, but acting another. Ralph struck the back wall painfully. He quickly pushed himself off it again and recovered, but now Dratini had him pinned. He had his back to the wall, and Dratini was right in front of him. It was waiting patiently, showing no emotion in its large eyes.

Ralph didn't know how he was going to avoid it anymore. He knew what its strategy was, but what could he do about it if he was pinned. And then a thought struck him. He didn't have to dodge every attack. Maybe the best way to defeat it wasn't to outmanoeuvre it, but to outsmart it.

Dratini was directly in front of him now. Its large eyes looked square at Ralph's body. Then it lunged forward, head-butting him in the chest. Ralph flinched. He fell forwards, gasping for air. Dratini struck him again, winding him further. The force was surprisingly strong against his gut. All oxygen was pushed from his lungs. It struck him again. Ralph fell back against the wall, his wings outspread as the dragon began to cause serious damage. Dratini went to strike again, and that was when Ralph struck back. He had played the injuries up, making it look like it had hurt more than it actually had. And thankfully Dratini had fallen for it. Ralph swung his wings down, crossing them in an X across Dratini's face and chest. The dragon pokémon was not just knocked back, it was thrown back. It skidded backwards across the room like a hurled aside dish rag, where it finally stopped back where it had started. The small dragon uncurled from the ball it had made in defence as it skidded and looked down at its body. Across its upper body was a shallow purple scar. The wound was already oozing with dripping purple toxins. Dratini glared at Ralph. Ralph just looked back with proud self-confidence.

Joe was completely stunned. Not only had Ralph managed to come back from a weak start in one move, but he'd also poisoned his opponent. That would make the battle much quicker. And on top of that it was angry. Angry pokémon were much easier to trick.

"Well done, buddy." He muttered. "Just keep it up and you can win this."

Ralph smiled at his opponent, waiting for it to attack. Dratini was getting enraged, but it was not forgetting its strategy just yet. It was still trying to trick Ralph into attacking it. The problem was Ralph already knew this plan, and he was already planning around it. Eventually Dratini gave up waiting and fired a thunderbolt to rekindle the battle. Ralph dodged aside of it with ease, then came flying in with a steel wing. This was wat Dratini had been waiting for. It sped at Ralph in a motionless flash, attempting another Extremespeed attack. But Ralph had also been expecting this, and at the last minute he pulled, Flying over Dratini's head and flying close to the roof. The wormy dragon skidded to a stop, looked up and decided that burning Ralph down was the best option. The flames scraped the rafters above their heads, but Ralph still went unhurt. He dived again, flying through the fire and striking Dratini square in the mouth with his wing. The dragon rolled backwards in a rotating bundle, landing flat on its stomach. Ralph flew overhead, his skin slightly ashen and singed. But he wasn't hurt too badly. He made a U-turn and stopped in his place, waiting for his opponent.

Dratini lifted itself up again with pure neck strength alone. It turned around to face Ralph once more, its eyes displaying the kind of anger only a fire breathing dragon could have. The kind of anger you'd see on a medieval charizard after you'd just plundered its lair and stolen all its treasure.

Ralph stared it down. He could see that its wounds were getting worse. The poison had long since taken effect. Any second now it would collapse. But Ralph could feel his own strength failing a little. His wings were getting tired. His skin was burned around his face and chest. If he was hit again, he probably wouldn't be able to keep going. He'd have to make this next attack count. As he thought this he realised that Dratini was preparing to charge. It was pulling its tail muscles back, preparing to make a final desperate attack. It clearly knew it didn't have much longer, too. Ralph smiled. It looked like this battle was only going to end one way. With one simultaneous strike. Ralph readied his wings. Dratini stretched its thin body out. Then both pokémon charged at full speed. They met in the centre of the room, and their attacks landed with full force on their opponent.

* * *

"Some friend you are." Winter muttered as she trundled along the path out of the city. She was still angry, and rightfully so. Her closest friend had just told her to get lost. So she had decided to leave on her own and head back to New Bark town. There was a pathway south across the hillside that would lead there. If she could go that way getting home to Kanto wouldn't take too long. But she had taken a while to decide this, and was still rather angry about what had happened. "Who does he think he is, saying that to me? After all I've done for him." She kicked an unlucky stone that happened it be in her path, sending it skittling down the concrete ahead of her. "How can he just kick me away when we've come this far?" She rubbed her eyes. She wouldn't admit it, but she was close to crying. Joe was more than just a friend to her. He was… something else. "And this is the thanks he gives me." She muttered spitefully. "It was so worth it after all that."

She looked up and saw the horizon ahead of her. The land was long and hilly, with many slopes and trees and colours painted onto it. It was the most verdant form of green she'd seen in a while, especially since it had become autumn time. At the very bottom of the hillside sat New Bark town, in its quiet and harmless serenity. It looked like a long path, but a welcoming one. Ad she was standing at its head, her toes pointing over the edge. All she had to do was take one step, then she'd be on a new route altogether. But she couldn't take that step just yet. She stood there, looking out at it all.

 _'_ _It doesn't feel right?'_ Her inner thoughts realised. _'This isn't how you wanted it. You don't want to travel alone. You wanted to do so… with him.'_ She bit her lip and closed her eyes. Her emotions were starting to get the better of her.

"Stop it!" She scolded herself. "You're a big girl now. You can do this alone. You don't need him. You don't need anyone with you. It's about time you started traveling by yourself properly."

Her inner thoughts said back _'But this isn't what you want. You wanted to travel with him, that's why you followed him here. That's why he asked you to go with him. Would you have it any other way?'_

"Shut up!" Winter hissed back. "I don't need him. And he doesn't want me around anymore." She sighed. "It's for the best."

 _'_ _Is it though?'_ her inner thoughts asked her. _'Do you really want to give that up, right when he needs you?'_

"He doesn't need me." Winter reminded herself. "He… he doesn't…" Her voice wavered. Even though she told herself this, she didn't believe it. She sighed. The path was right at her feet. If she could just start on it, she would feel better. She would never look back. She'd get going and never stop. She'd be home in no time. Winter raised her foot out.

 _'_ _You'll miss him.'_ Her inner thoughts said suddenly. _'You know you will. And he'll miss you.'_ Winter froze. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't. Slowly her foot returned to the ground beside her other foot.

"Alright." She muttered, trying to hold back tears. "You win. I'll give him one more chance. After all we've been through I can at least try one more time."

 _'_ _That's the spirit.'_ Her inner thoughts said. _'Now get back there and give him one more chance.'_

Winter nodded and turned around, snivelling slightly with emotion. She began walking back towards the city, holding her head low but still walking. She was going to give it one more try. Maybe he had calmed down. Maybe he too was feeling sorry. Maybe she wouldn't have to leave him.

Up above Winter's 'Inner Thoughts' smiled and giggled to itself, spinning in the air, its long pink tail rolling over its head as it did so. Then it teleported away again, its job done for now.

Winter was nearly back at the city now. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to go to go to the Dragon's Den and find Joe and Silver there, and apologise for what she had said to him. While Joe had said some bad things to her, she had set him off to start it all. She should apologise, even if he hurt her too. As she walked in however she heard someone walking behind her. Uninterestedly she glanced back, and spotted someone not too far away wearing a black uniform and hat. Her mind suddenly jumped into alertness. She spun around, reaching for a pokeball. But a strong hand stopped her. She glanced to her side. A burly fat grunt was grinning at her, wearing the usually extra-large Team Rocket uniform.

"Sorry 'bout this, miss." He said in a slimy illiterate voice that hinted no real feeling of sorry in it. "But our boss wished ta' see ya."

Winter tried to break his grip, pulling her other arm around to strike him in the face, when another grunt grabbed her around the neck with a strong bicep. A weird smelling sponge was placed over her face, covering her nose and mouth as she tried to struggle free. She called for help, but no sound was making it past the liquid soaked material. It smelled awful. Suddenly she felt woozy. Her head was getting dizzy. She could feel her legs getting weak and her eyes getting heavy.

"No." She tried to scream, but her voice only escaped as a tired whisper "J…" Her body gave up. She collapsed back into the arms of the grunt. Before she fully lost consciousness she heard the first grunt, the fat one, say something to the other.

"Quick, Gilbert, let's get her back to the boss. I'll take her legs." She felt her legs being gipped and hauled up by fat hands. "If the boss is right, this should draw that bothersome crobat kid straight to us." Then the world shut off as the chloroform took effect.

* * *

Dratini collapsed backwards, sliding across the floor in an unconscious pile. Ralph had won the fight. Joe was victorious. Clair looked at the defeated pokémon that had been fighting for her side, pulling a horrified expression.

"What…?" She mumbled in disbelief. "No. No! That's not fair! He can't have won!" She exclaimed. "That was the strongest pokémon he had!"

"Dratini was not strong, Clair." The Elder told her wisely. "Dratini was cunning and fast. Strength is not the same as strategy." He looked down at his pokémon. "Dratini was indeed one of the most difficult pokémon to fight in this region. But you have bested it." He looked up at Joe. "Congratulations. It seems that you do indeed deserve what you came here for." Joe smiled finally. It seemed he had succeeded in impressing the elder and proving himself to Clair.

"What'd I tell you?" Silver said, slapping him on the back. "You did it, dude."

"You mean Ralph did it." Joe told him, winking at Ralph as he did so. Ralph winked back, giving him a happy smile as he flew back over to his trainer's side. Clair was still in shock.

"Hang on." She exclaimed. "Do I not get a say in this?" It seemed she was still reluctant to admit Joe was a strong opponent.

"The test is done, Clair." The Elder told her. "This young man has proved himself to be a worthy trainer." He turned back to face Joe and his team. "Would you please hand this young man the badge he has just earned." He instructed.

Clair sighed. There was no arguing with the Elder of the town. Reluctantly she stepped up and handed Joe a small glistening metal gym badge. "Here." She said as she held out her hand, huffing annoyed as she spoke. "Take it." Joe took the hunk of cut metal from her and looked at it sitting in his palm. It was a weird shape, and looked almost like some kind of black dragon skull with a silver outline and two small triangle red eyes. Clair gave Joe a spiteful look. "I guess you deserve it." She muttered, trying to be polite but failing seriously. She stepped back to the elder's side.

"You must forgive Clair." The Elder told them. "She is young and new to her post. She did not know properly of the processes that go on here."

Clair huffed. "Oh shut up, grandad." She muttered cruelly. The Elder ignored her.

"But now you have all eight Johto badges." He said, speaking to Joe directly. "And with the rising badge now in your hands you would be able to gain entrance to the pokémon league."

"I thank you." Joe said, bowing.

"But before you leave…" The elder spoke up again. "I would like to make a final offer to you."

Joe seemed curious, but also cautious. "What is it?" Joe asked him. The Elder gave him a small but warm smile.

"It is clear that your pokémon are not only strong but smart." He told him. "Your crobat here has proved that today. But as I look at them I see there are two who have not yet reached full strength." He took a few steps forward. "I'm afraid one of them cannot be helped as of now. Togepi evolves through the love and happiness it shares with its trainer, so I can only hope you've been treating him well. If that is the case then he should evolve any day soon." He stood in front of Joe, his arms folded and a smile on his wise face. "But, if you wish, I could help you evolve your pikachu right now." Joe looked a little surprised. He glanced at Pippy beside him, who was also looking pretty shocked.

"You would do that for me?" Joe asked.

"Of course." The Elder told him. "It wouldn't take more than a second. I always keep a collection of evolution stones on me in case something like this should pop up, and lucky for you that I do that." He walked over to the side of the room and stopped in front of a tough wood long box positioned on a low standing table. He unlocked it quickly and opened it up. Inside were piles of various multi-coloured stones, each the length of two thumbs and used for evolving pokémon. The light reflected of the curved wooden lid, creating a small rainbow of colours. The Elder closed the lid again and turned around, holding something in his arms. When he held it out, he had a thunder stone sitting in his hands. Pippy stared at it with wide eyes of excitement. "Pikachu evolves into Raichu through the use of a thunderstone, and only a thunderstone." The elder explained. "It doesn't matter how strong the pikachu gets, it will never become a Raichu without one. But, of course, I imagine you already knew this." He stepped over to Joe, holding out the thunderstone in both hands. "Would you like to take it?" He asked. Joe looked at the bolt shaped yellow stone. It glowed with a slight green and yellow tint, which illuminated the small area of room around them with a slight amount of light.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked, looked at the old man before him.

"It is your choice." The Elder told him kindly. "But you said you came here to prove you were strong. I'm giving you a choice to possibly make your most vulnerable pokémon even stronger."

"I don't know." Joe muttered. "I should probably ask Pippy if this is what he wants."

The Elder nodded. "Of course." He told him. "Take as long as you need to decide." Joe nodded his thanks. He turned around to his team.

"Pippy." He called. His pikachu didn't give him a chance to ask him anything. The second he heard his name, Pippy began to jump up and down, yapping excitedly.

"Pi Pi Pi Pi Pi!" He exclaimed with each hop. Joe raised his eyebrows.

"You're pretty excited about this." He said, surprised.

"Pika!" Pippy yapped, nodding. He was barely able to stand still.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" Joe asked him. "You're not just saying this because I want it?"

Pippy shook his head. "Pi-ika!" He exclaimed stubbornly. "Pika-Chu!"

Joe chuckled to himself. He was a little stunned that Pippy was so excited for this. It appeared he'd been waiting for this for some time. He certainly could deny him now, even if he didn't really think he should go through with it. But it was what Pippy wanted, so he'd allow it.

"Alright." Joe said, impressed by Pippy's stubbornness. "I think he says yes." The Elder nodded.

"Then let him step forwards." The Elder stated.

Joe turned back to his small pikachu. "Go on then." He said with a grin. Pippy squeaked excitedly. He had been waiting for this for a while. Not it really was time to grow up. He waddled forward, a massive smile on his tiny whiskered face. The Elder knelt forwards on old knees and held out his hands, the thunderstone lying open on them. Pippy rushed over and didn't wait a second longer. He placed his small paws on the stone and took it from the old human.

What happened next was magnificent to behold. The second Pippy's hands touched the stone he began to glow. He had a few seconds to react in surprise as the light engulfed him. It was already happening. Finally, Joe's second oldest pokémon that had been on his team almost since the very beginning, was finally evolving, after several months of traveling. The light engulfed Pippy and grew to twice his size. And when it was done it faded again. Pippy turned around where he had been standing, admiring his new body. His was standing an impressive two feet tall, which was almost twice the size he had been as a pikachu. His fur was orange, his belly was pail grey, his paws were brown, his cheeks were yellow, his ears were black and wide and flappy, his back was stripped with two black curves, his tail was long and on the end of it was a large lightning bolt. Joe smiled proudly at his second oldest pokémon. His new Raichu smiled back, just as proud of himself.

Silver whistled impressed. "Damn." He muttered. "Pippy got a tan." Joe gave him a look, but he didn't do so for long. He was too happy to see his pikachu grow up. He was going to have to get used to seeing him like this. Pippy had been a pikachu for so long. It already felt a bit weird to see him like this. Pippy grinned at Joe.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Joe muttered, hugging Pippy as he rushed over.

"Rai!" Pippy exclaimed happily. His voice was a lot lower than it had been, and nowhere near as squeaky either. Pippy grinned up at Ralph, who gave him a small welcoming wink back. Joe looked back at the Elder, standing up again.

"Thank you." Joe told him. "For helping us." The Elder nodded back.

"It was my pleasure." He said kindly. "I hope you both have safe travels, and good luck in your war with Team Rocket." Joe and Silver nodded. They withdrew their team, but left Pippy out a bit longer so he could get used to himself still, and left, closing the door behind them. The Elder watched them leave through the doorway. "I hope they win." He muttered to himself, sounding solemn. "For all our sakes, I hope they win."

"You really solved that today." Silver said impressed as he and Joe walked to the edge of the wood dock. Joe nodded.

"I suppose I did." He agreed. "Well come on. It's time to get out of here."

"What should we do now?" Silver asked. Joe and Ralph glanced at each other.

"Well first we should stop by the pokémon centre and heal up." He told him. "And then I'm going to go and find Winter again. I need to apologise to her."

* * *

 **I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I would like to say that, from now on, the next collection of chapters will all be focused on the final fight. While not all of them will involve battling, they will all be relevant to what is about to happen.**

 **Something big is coming this way.**

 **Something very big indeed!**


	31. Chapter 31: Tripped Up

**I decided to post this chapter a few hours early this week. I finished it a few days ago and I've been pretty eager to post it. This chapter has by far been one of my all time favorites to write. I hope you guys enjoy it. A lot happens and some things that some of you were probably hoping to see happen here. No spoilers, but I think you'll like it. Please give feedback for improvements. With this said, please enjoy. All forms of respect encourage me to write more. Who knows. If I really enjoy it, the next chapter may come just as quickly. ;)**

* * *

"Winter!" Joe called, bursting through the doors to the pokémon centre. The rising badge was gripped between his fingers. He had rushed over to where he thought his friends was likely to be, hoping to show her what he'd achieved. But he was surprised to that the pokémon centre was practically empty. The few people who were there looked at him in confusion. He glanced around the room. There was no sign of his friend. The nurse glanced up at him from the desk, both happy but also confused.

"Can I help you?" She asked. Joe stood in the doorway saying nothing, his face a picture of loss. Silver appeared behind him.

"What is it?" He asked. Joe stepped aside to let the boy in.

"Winter's not here." He told him. Silver also seemed confused.

"She's not." He asked. Joe nodded. He stepped up to the desk, deciding that asking the nurse was probably the best place to start.

"Excuse me." He said. "Have you seen our friend around here? She's around our age, slightly shorter, long ginger hair." The nurse looked at him.

"That girl who was with you when I was sorting out your head?" She asked, quickly remembering who he was. Joe nodded in return, touching the bandage on his forehead subconsciously. "Yes, she was just here a few minutes ago." She explained. "But she left quickly after. She didn't say anything when she did."

Joe looked a little shocked. "She left?" He asked. The nurse nodded.

"I'm sorry I can't help more, boys." She said sadly. "I hope you find here again."

"Why would she just leave?" Joe wondered, turning back away from the desk.

"Probably because of how you treated her." Silver reminded him. Joe suddenly remembered exactly what he'd called her. The horrible words he'd said. They struck his mind like a branding iron to the brain, burning in how awful a friend he really was.

"I have to find her again." He muttered, feeling impossibly guilty now. "I have to say sorry." He rushed out of the pokémon centre, leaving everything behind, even almost dropping his bag just to move faster. Ralph and Silver watched him go.

"Oh boy." Silver muttered glancing at the crobat. "This isn't good." He ran after the boy, Ralph following him as they rushed to keep up with him.

"Winter!" Joe shouted, his hands cupped around his mouth. He was standing in the middle of the street when Silver and Ralph found him, crying out for his missing friend. "Winter! Where are you?" People walking by began to stare at him.

"Joe." Silver hissed embarrassedly. "You're making a scene. She's not going to hear you if she's already left."

"I don't care." He snapped at him. "I have to find her! I have to!"

"Even if we do find her she probably isn't going to be to happy." Silver reminded him. "You did say some pretty cold things."

"Thank you for reminding me." Joe muttered spitefully. Then he went back to shouting. "Winter!" He bellowed.

"For gods sake!" Silver muttered. He stomped over and grabbed Joe by the shoulder, pulling him aside.

"What the hell…!" Joe muttered.

"Just stop this!" Silver snapped. Joe looked surprised.

"What?" He asked, sounding angry.

"You've done nothing but just screw everything up since you got here!" Silver snapped at him. "Did that blow to your head knock the sense out of you? Shouting like this isn't doing any good. You'll just scare her away if she even hears it. What are you even trying to achieve?"

"I know you don't really care about us, Silver…" Joe said coldly. "But Winter's my closest friend. I need to apologise to her, and that's what I'm trying to do. Maybe you should give it a try!" He turned around and was about to continue shouting when Silver cut him off again.

"Just stop it, for god's sake!" He snapped.

"What's wrong with you?" Joe snapped at him. Silver huffed.

"What's wrong with me?!" He snapped back. "What's wrong with you?"

"Me?" Joe growled.

"Yes you!" Silver roared. Ralph tried to intervene between the two teenagers, but he couldn't move them. They were to set on arguing. "You've just been getting more and more trouble all this time. Ever since I met you you've been making that girls life a real trial!" Joe glared at him.

"Take that back!" He growled.

"It's the truth!" Silver shouted. "You just use her, abuse her friendship and do nothing to show it back. You just drag her along into these situations, never asking her what she wants or what she will get out of it. It's like you barely even notice she's there half the time. And you don't even know!"

"Shut up!" Joe shouted back. "Just shut up!"

"No, I won't!" Silver shouted back. He was enraged. "You have no idea how much she does for you, you really don't. She was the one who dragged you out of that cave the other day. I was reluctant to do so, but she forced me to. She cared about you that much! And what did you do when you woke up? Push her aside and go challenge a gym leader. You didn't even say thank you!" Joe fell quiet.

"She did?" He asked quietly.

Silver was steaming. "And this isn't the only time!" He continued. "You've always done this! Remember Sudowoodo? She took on your own pokémon for you! You released the one she gave you!"

"Cutter was wild!" Joe argued back.

"There's more!" Silver snapped, cutting Joe off before he could go further on his side. "What about Burned Tower? You didn't thank her for helping to put out the fire! Then there's the incident at route 39's farm? Did you thank her for taking out that Rocket commander by herself? No, you didn't because you never saw it. You didn't even bother to check she was okay!" Joe was silent. "And then there's the Rocket Attack itself! How can you forget that?" Silver continued. "Winter took on Ariana by herself in an attempt to get you and Ralph back! She failed, but at least she tried and she took a beating for you! Did you ever care? No! You were too bothered by your own freaking dad! You never even tried to ask how she was!"

"Don't…" Joe tried to say.

"No, I'm not finished!" Silver snapped at him. "You call yourself her friend, but you've done very little to ever help her! You just rely on her all the time, for everything! That's not friendship! That's being lazy! You treat her like your mother! No, not that, that would imply some form of care for her! All you do is drive her mad and drag her around, and you're surprised she left after this long of putting up with it!" He growled. "You're a bigger idiot then I could ever have thought!" He muttered. "And you don't even see how she looks at you, do you." Joe looked at him. Silver was done with his statement. "Christ!" He muttered, stepping back, throwing his arms about in annoyance.

Joe held his head. "What did you mean by not knowing how she looks at me?" He asked quietly. Silver faced palmed.

"Don't you get it?" He snapped. "She likes you, Joe!" Joe looked up.

"What?" He muttered.

"And you like her too!" Silver continued. "You're so freaking useless the two of you, I have to find this out for you both!" He tapped his foot in annoyance. "You're like two blind dogs trying to find each other in a snowstorm!" He muttered.

"I don't…" Joe tried to say.

"Oh come on, Joe!" Silver shouted. "Stop lying to yourself already! You're just making yourself look stupid!" He exhaled. "I mean what are you afraid of?" Joe looked up.

"What am I afraid of?" He repeated, growling a little. "I'll tell you, shall I? I'm afraid of her saying no." He said it so poignantly that it came as a surprise. "I'm afraid that, after so long, if I were to mention it I'd ruin our friendship! I'm afraid she'll just turn me away!"

"So you admit you like her?" Silver asked. Joe glared at him.

"Alright, Silver." He muttered. "You win. God damn you!" He sighed. "Yes." He admitted. "I like her." Then he growled. "No, like is too weak a word." He muttered. "I love her." He said quietly. "I always have. I can't help myself. I feel weak around her. I just want to be near her. That's all I ever wanted. That's why I've been trying to get strong. For her. I need to. I can't lose her. The fear of losing her is too much. If any harm were to ever come to her…" He stopped. His eyes turned to Silver. "You're a really bastard." He muttered. "Making me spill my guts to you! Why should I be saying any of this? Why do you even want to know?"

Silver just shrugged. Joe turned away. "That's how I feel." He said suddenly. Joe glanced back.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"About Crystal." He explained. "I feel the same way about her. I understand exactly how you feel." He stepped forwards. "But I have to put up with it. I have to keep going. I have to stay strong, on the hope I'll see her again someday." Joe grumbled.

"How can you live with it?" He asked. "Knowing she's with Team Rocket? Knowing you might not see her again?"

Silver shrugged. "I don't think I do." He admitted. "I just keep going and hope. "He walked back over to Joe and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you look for her a bit longer." He told him. "But if she's not here we should move on and let her go." Joe wiped his eyes. Tears were trying to form, but he wouldn't let them.

"Okay." He muttered in agreement.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Silver asked. Joe shrugged.

"I dunno." He said. "I think so."

"Okay." Silver swivelled on his heels and began to walk. "Let's not stand around here much longer. Let's get looking." He walked away, stepping further into the town and keeping his eyes peeled. Joe followed after him, patting Ralph on the side as he did so. Ralph followed beside him, looking worried. Joe had just strained himself to say that. Ralph was worried by how this was going to affect him now.

* * *

The three of them searched everywhere for her. They checked the pokémon centre again, the looked around the town, in the pokémon, around the gym, even as far as the Ice Path, even outside of the city. There was no sign of their friend. Winter was nowhere to be seen. After two hours of searching it was starting to get a little darker. Midday had passed by, and evening was on the way. And still they couldn't find her.

"It doesn't look like she's here." Silver said finally with a disappointed huff. He looked up at the sky. "We should probably get back inside." He said.

"No." Joe told him simply. "No, I'm going to keep looking. She has to be here."

"We just looked everywhere for her." Silver told him, trying to press past his stubbornness. "If she isn't here then she's already gone." He sighed again. "I'm sorry Joe." He muttered. "But she's not here."

"Then I'll keep looking outside the city." He said simply. "Trust me, I'm going to find her."

Silver shrugged. "Suit yourself." He yawned, stretching his arms out. "I'm tired, so I'm gonna go back in for now." He muttered. Then he stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide and glaring forward.

"Silver…" Joe started to say as he turned, but he stopped when he saw his friend's expression. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, confused. Silver said nothing. A joyous smile suddenly rose on his lips.

"Crystal!" He called. Joe turned to where he was facing. A young girl was running up the road south of the city. She was no longer wearing her Team Rocket attire, but now her casual clothing: a white puffed up hat with a red cap, short legged blue dungarees, a red long sleeved shirt, tall white socks and large red shoes. She saw him too and her weary expression became one of hopeful elation.

"Silver!" She cried upon seeing him. Silver couldn't hold his ground a second longer. He rushed over to her, sprinting like a Jolteon down the street. He held his arms out and embraced the girl, hugging her right into him. She hugged him back. "You're okay!" She cooed.

"Yes I'm okay." Silver said back happily. "As are you." He kissed her tightly, holding her close. "I was worried Team Rocket had hurt you further." He said, hugging her tighter.

"They did." She muttered, feeling solemn. She pulled away and showed him her hand. It had a circular burn on it. Silver took her hand and looked at it closer. He was angry about it.

"Who did this to you?" He demanded.

"B-Baxter." Silver mumbled nervously. "A-after I came back from seeing you at the National Park." Silver growled.

"I'll give him some burns to nurture himself." He muttered in an attempted threat. "But how did you get away?" He asked her.

"I was able to sneak out last night." She told him weakly. "While they were…. While they were dealing with a friend of mine." She muttered.

"They didn't hurt Azi, did they?" Silver asked. Crystal shook her head.

"No." She said. "Oh Silver, I'm so glad to see you again." She hugged the boy once more. "I was worried I'd never get to." She whispered. "I missed you." Silver looked a little surprised at first. Then he hugged her back.

"It's okay." He told her. "I won't let you get hurt."

"They asked me to lead them to you." She told him. "They wanted me to help them catch and stop the two of you." Silver looked at her.

"But you didn't?" He asked. Crystal shook her head again.

"No." She told him. "That's why I ran away. I couldn't do it, and they would've made me. They're probably after me right now." She said, trying not to cry. "They did some awful things to me. I was never left alone, not for a second. I…" She began to sob quietly. Silver hugged her close.

"It's okay." He told her." They won't get you again. I won't let them." She looked at him in loving awe.

"Thank you." She said, hugging him back. "Silver, thank you."

Joe finally reached the scene, running nowhere close to how fast Silver had been moving. Add in the fact he wasn't interested in seeing Crystal that much and you got some surprisingly slow resulting movement. The only reason Ralph hadn't shot ahead was because he had promised to stay by Joe's side. They eventually reached them however, walking in right as Silver and Crystal had another kiss.

"Am I interrupting anything?" He asked bluntly. Silver and Crystal turned to him.

"She's not here to cause problems." Silver told him quickly, realising Joe only knew Crystal from her Team Rocket origins. "She left them. They wanted her to lead them to us."

"But she hasn't, has she?" He asked, seeming concerned. Crystal shook her head.

"I left too early for them to know." She explained.

"There you are." Silver told him. "She's not going to be a problem. We can trust her."

"There's still no sign of Winter?" Joe asked.

"No." Silver told him sadly. "She must be long gone now." He muttered.

"You mean that ginger girl who travels with you?" Crystal asked. Joe nodded.

"Yeah, I… said some not too nice things to her, and I need to apologise for them." He explained.

"That's putting it simply." Silver told him.

Crystal's eyes widened. She pulled away from Silver, suddenly realising something very serious. "She wasn't wearing a green coat, was she?" She asked. "And a yellow shirt, and green shorts that reached down to her knees."

"Yes, that's her." Joe said quickly. Then he was suddenly suspicious. "You haven't seen her, have you?"

Crystal nodded slowly, her expression of troubled realisation. "I have." She said quickly. "And if it really was her then she's in serious danger." She paused to gulp. "I saw her being carried away on the way here." She explained. "She's been kidnapped by Team Rocket."

Joe looked horrified. "What?!" He exclaimed.

"It gets worse." Crystal told him, fear in her eyes. "Archer's planning to attack Goldenrod city tomorrow. He's going to do something, and he needs your friend for some reason." She thought for a second. "He said something about raising an ancient god."

Joe turned to Silver. "We need to help her, now!" He exclaimed.

"But how are we meant to do that?" Silver asked. "The grunts taking her will most likely be long gone now, and we don't know where their base is."

"I do." Crystal told them. They looked at her.

"You do?" Silver said in surprise. Even Ralph was rather amazed by this. He was showing this by raising his brown a while five inches higher.

Crystal nodded. "Yeah." She said simply. "It's where all the grunts from Team Rocket are. We all know where it is, we're just not supposed to reveal it to people."

"And you just did." Joe told her.

"I don't want to be a part of Team Rocket anymore." She stated simply. "I'm done with them. That's why I left."

"That was brave of you." Silver told her. She shrugged shyly.

"I'm not that brave." She muttered embarrassed.

"Could you lead us to them?" Joe asked her, pressing her for help. Crystal seemed a little nervous.

"I don't know if I want to go back there." She told him timidly.

"They have my friend." Joe said sharply. "I need to help her."

"But what if they catch us?" Crystal said, backing away. "I… I can't."

"Joe, we shouldn't force her. She's clearly afraid." Silver told him. Joe didn't listen.

"Crystal, please. You have to help us." He said, beginning to beg. "Please. I'm worried about my friend, the same way you worried about Silver and he worried about you. Please help me get her back. I know you're afraid of Team Rocket, but if I can't find them I can't stop them. You need to take me to their base. Please, Crystal."

Crystal looked at him, trying to hold back tears. "Can you really stop them?" She asked.

Joe nodded. "I certainly want to try." He told her. "But I can't let my friend get hurt for that. Surely you understand."

Crystal sighed. She wiped her tears away. "Alright." She agreed. "I'll… I'll take you to their base."

Joe smiled at her. "Thank you." He said gratefully.

"What about Goldenrod?" Silver asked. "They need to be warned. Someone needs to get there and tell them about the attack."

"You're right." Joe realised. He looked between Silver, Crystal and Ralph. "I need to go with Crystal and rescue Winter." He stated simply. He looked at Silver. "I'm sorry to ask, but could you get there and warn them for me?" He requested. Silver nodded.

"Of course." He told him. "I'll head there now."

"Be safe." Crystal told him. Silver looked at her and took her hand.

"I'll be fine." He told her confidently. He kissed her a final time before stepping back. "Good luck, Joe." He called as he walked away backwards. "I hope you make it to Winter in time." He turned on his heels and rushed of back into the city.

"Thank you, Silver." He muttered as his friend rushed off. He was surprised he'd ever lay his trust in Silver, but it seemed that he was truly a good person. He turned back to Crystal, his air suddenly one a need for action. It was time to confront Archer, and get his friend back. "Alright then." He stated to her. "Lead the way."

* * *

Crystal led his further down the path south until they reached a small tunnel in the hillside. It turned out that she had used this cave system to get all the way from outside Mahogany town to Blackthorn city in under two hours. It was quite extraordinary that she'd not only been able to escape team rocket, but also that she'd somehow managed to navigate this place and find Silver and him afterwards. He followed her back through the caves as she took him to the rocket base. Around an hour later they emerged from the other side. When they did they found themselves standing at the base of the woods to the south of Mahogany town. When they looked through the trees they could make out the faint outline of the buildings and off its people moving about.

"It's just up here." Crystal told him. She led Joe up the small hillside, moving as quickly as they could against gravity. Ralph had less trouble going up, but he waited for them to catch up with him. When they did finally reach the top of the first smaller hill they stopped to breath. Crystal pointed off into the distance. "That's it." She told him, her finger stabbing the horizon like a knife to a map. Joe looked up, panting from the run. He saw what she was pointing to. An old warehouse building was sitting on top of a large hillside. It looked completely abandoned, but if Team Rocket were in there that wouldn't be a surprise.

'So this was where their base really was all along.' He thought 'Somewhere you'd never notice, because it would never look noteworthy.' He looked at the old building from a distance with his young keen eyes. He couldn't believe that all this time they had been hiding in such a simple place. It had even been right next door to them at one point, and he'd never noticed. He hadn't even seen it once before now.

"And you're sure this is there base?" Joe asked, just to be on the safe side. Crystal nodded quickly.

"Yes. This is where I was all that time." She explained "If they've taken your friend they'll have taken her here."

"Do you know how to get us in there without being seen?" He asked.

"I think so." Crystal told him. She looked at the building, her eyes glimpsing small memories that she wished she could forget. "We can get in the same way I got out." She told him. "It should take us in near the prison area. That's where your friend will be… if she's even still alive."

"If Archer wants to keep his head attached to his neck…" Joe muttered. "Then she will be."

"You can't confront him in there." Crystal warned him. "He'll have all his men with him. He'll know that place thoroughly. There's no way you'd be able to surprise him while he's in there." She looked fearfully at him. "We just go in and get your friend." She said. "After that, we leave." Joe looked at her. She seemed to be begging rather than asking, as if she was so afraid she couldn't even consider trying to fight Archer.

"You don't have to stay in there with me." He told her. "But Archer needs to be stopped, and if I can take him down before he starts whatever his plan is then it's for the better."

Crystal sighed, her breathing wavering and her body shaking slightly with nerves. "Alright." She muttered weakly, trying to be brave but struggling. "You do whatever you must. I'll help you save your friend, but after that I'm going."

Joe nodded, respecting her choice. "That's okay." He told her. "And Crystal…" He said. Crystal looked back at him. "Thank you." He told her. "Thank you for doing this for me."

She smiled weakly back. "You're welcome." She told him.

They hurried over to the aging, falling down wood and stone building standing on the hillside ahead of them. They were doing their best to be cautious. Even though most of the buildings windows were covered up, there was still the chance that someone might see them. Crystal led him around the back of the building towards a simple metal door. It wasn't locked. She was able to open it with a single push. It was surprisingly easy to do in fact. Almost suspiciously so. Ralph kept his eyes open from then on out.

"So this is how you escaped?" Joe asked. Crystal nodded.

"I had to bust the lock to do so. I'm surprised no one heard me." She explained. "The cells should be just in here." She told him.

Joe went to follow her through. Ralph's wing stopped him. His crobat companion grabbed his shoulder and stopped him where he stood. "Ralph, why have you stopped me?" Joe asked, turning around to his friend. Ralph's eyes were full of fearful concern. He didn't trust this plan, not one slight bit, and it was clearly he could tell something wasn't right about an unlocked door being unmanned. But Joe didn't pick up on this. He only saw his pokémon's worried look and nothing further. "Don't worry." He chuckled. "We won't be in there long. We'll just find Winter and then come straight back out."

"Cro!" Ralph shook his head violently. Joe looked a little confused. He stared back at him.

"Look, we have to go in." Joe told him. "I know you aren't keen on going back into a Rocket Base, but we have to. That monster has our friend locked up. Don't you want to see her again?" He asked. Ralph nodded, but that wasn't what he was trying to say. But Joe had already stopped listening. He shrugged Ralph's wing off. "Come on. Lets' just get this done quickly." He told him. Ralph watched as he entered, and had no choice but to follow. None of this felt right to him. He had so many suspicions. Why was there an unlocked door in a base of criminals? He followed Joe through the doorway, squeezing through as he nearly didn't fit. Then they were inside. The door closed quietly behind them.

It was dark inside. There was no form of lighting anywhere. Joe had to hold his arms out to feel for the walls.

"Crystal." He whispered. "Crystal, are you in here?" He asked. He fumbled around the walls for a bit, trying to find a possible light switch.

"Cro." Ralph called quietly.

"Shush, Ralph." Joe hissed. "We need to stay quiet buddy, so they don't find us in here" He felt Ralph's wing grab his shoulder again. He turned to see his yellow eyes glowing through the dark like headlights. Ralph shrugged and flew past him, keeping his wing on Joe's shoulder. He led the boy ahead. Being able to see in this dark he was the best person to follow in this situation.

"Crystal?" Joe whispered out. "Where are you?"

"Over here." She hissed back. "Just stay low and stay quiet. I can see you. Head left a bit." Joe and Ralph turned left, attempting to follow the girl's voice. Ralph manoeuvred them around obstacles, some of which were pretty big indeed. They must have entered into some kind of holding room. There was the sound of movement up ahead. It must have been Crystal moving towards them.

"Are we close?" Joe asked.

"Yes." She told him. "You're nearly there. Just keep going." Joe continued to creep forwards.

Then suddenly the lights turned on. The sudden glaring brightness was so blinding that Joe and especially Ralph were left without vision for a few seconds as their eyes adjusted. They covered their faces automatically, trying to protect them from the dazzling electric bulbs. In their blind state they heard a small amount of movement. And then someone started clapping. Joe finally opened his eyes and looked towards the sound. And when he found its cause he felt a well of anger rise up inside him.

Archer was standing in front of him, at least twenty feet or so away, glaring at him through his wool mask. His arms were crossed and it was clear he seemed quite impressed. "A skilful entry indeed." He said with a hint of fake admiration. "I would never have expected you would try and brake in all alone. Yet here you are. I'm impressed. So we finally meet again." Joe's fists opened and closed.

"You…" He muttered. Archer chuckled.

"Why so surprised to see me?" He asked. "Did you not think I'd be here? Surely you knew better than that?"

"Where's Winter?" Joe demanded.

"You mean your friend?" Archer asked, soundly completely uncaring. "She's in our prison right now. I'm sure she'd love to see you."

"Let her go, Archer!" Joe told him fiercely. Archer's expression was hidden, but he said nothing on it.

"And why would I do that?" He asked.

"Because if you don't I'll burn this place down and destroy you myself!" Joe hissed. Archer just laughed at this.

"Go ahead." He said. "I have no need for this place anymore. It has served its purpose. I'd love to see you just try though." He said with sarcastic hatred. As he said a few more people turned up behind him. His commanders. They stood in a line of importance, Petrel and Proton standing to the sides, while Ariana stood almost directly beside Archer himself. Joe backed up a little. "I'm very sorry my friend…" Archer said suddenly. His voice was hinting cruelty. "But I'm afraid you aren't leaving." Joe heard a gun cock behind him. He turned around. A hat grunt was standing behind him, pointing a small rifle at his back. Behind him were several more grunts, all holding pocket handguns in their unskilled hands.

"No funny movements, boy." The fat grunt instructed. "Now get 'em hands up where I can see 'em!" Joe glared at him. Slowly his arms rose upwards, his hands open flat. The grunt smiled, showing a mouthful of rotting teeth. "That's better." He grumbled. Then he struck the boy in the face. Joe fell onto his back, folding his jaw and coughing in pain. The grunt had punched him right in the mouth. A small trickle of blood was falling from a gash in his lip. Ralph went to help him up, but Baxter's gut turned on him, holding him in his place. "Don't even think about it!" He hissed spitefully.

"Enough, Baxter." Archer instructed. Baxter grumbled, but held back from striking again.

"As you say, boss." He said. Joe stumbled back up to his feet. His head was spinning a little. The punch had knocked him slightly. He could feel his brain spinning in its skull shell. As he knelt there vulnerable, he glanced to the side of the room. Crystal was there, hiding behind a corner wall. She looked terrified. But they hadn't seen her. The door back out was right behind her. Joe could see the light under it. All she had to do was go.

"Run, Crystal!" Joe called suddenly. "Go! Get out of here! Get to Silver! Help him fight these guys!" Crystal froze, her eyes wide and petrified. He felt a foot press into his hand suddenly. Joe yelled in pain.

"Shut up!" Baxter stated as he stood over the boy, his boot heel digging its way through his hand to the floor. Archer looked to where the boy had called, spotted the girl, and smile.

"Ah." He exclaimed happily. "There you are." Joe glared at him.

"Don't touch her!" He yelled at the white suited man. "You've hurt her enough." Baxter's foot dug deeper into his hand.

"I said shut up!" He hissed. "You don't want to ignore me again!"

Ralph finally decided to attack. He lunged at the man, wings slashing and fangs bared. Baxter turned to see the giant purple bat attack him head on. But before Ralph could do anything to him, something small and sharp hit his back with a strong impact. Suddenly his body seized up, sparking with electricity. His wings folded in, his mouth clenched and he collapsed to the ground, a paralyzed heap. Two small barbs were sticking out of his back, attached to wires that led up to a small taser handgun. Ariana pocketed the gun again, a malicious grin on her face. Joe looked at his friend. Ralph was completely paralysed. He couldn't even open his mouth to groan. All he could do was look back at his human companion, seeing fear for the first time in his own eyes. Joe growled.

"You bastards!" He cursed. "You monsters!"

"I'm sorry, Joe." Crystal cried suddenly. Joe glanced to her. Tears were falling from her eyes. "I'm sorry." Joe looked back sorrowfully.

"Don't worry about me!" He called. "Just go! Get out of here while you can!"

Archer laughed suddenly.

"Boy, you have no idea how easy this was." Archer said suddenly. "You didn't honestly think we wouldn't expect you to try and fight us here, did you." He walked over and knelt in front of him. Joe growled like a caged animal as he approached. "We knew you'd find us here eventually." He told him. "In fact, we wanted you to find us. It'd just make it easier to catch you."

"This means nothing!" Joe hissed at him. "I still have friends out there! They'll take care of you lot, even if I can't." Archer grinned at him.

"You still haven't realised, have you?" He said, seeming enjoying pointing out how unprepared Joe was to face him. "How can you trust your friends when they lead you into our traps?" He asked. Joe was confused.

"What?" He asked. Archer grabbed his hair and pulled his head down.

"This was all planned from the start." He whispered.

"What are you talking about?" Joe demanded, hissing though the pain on his scalp.

"You put your trust in the wrong people again." Archer told him. Joe looked up. "Yes." The leader of team rocket stated simply. He glanced over to Crystal. "Why don't you explain to him." He asked. Joe looked at Crystal. She had an expression of guilt on her face.

"I'm sorry Joe." She muttered through sobs. "I'm really, really sorry for this."

Joe suddenly realise when Archer was saying to him.

"No." He muttered. "She wasn't."

"Oh but she was." Archer chuckled. He put his Arm around Crystal's shoulder as she walked over to stand by him. "I hate to say this boy, but your friend here was leading you into this trap." He explained. "She was a part of this all the way from the start. I mean you should have known this would happen. She was a part of Team Rocket after all." Joe glared at Crystal. She was so sorrowful. A true feeling of anger and hatred began to erupt inside of him.

"You betrayed me?" He asked. Crystal nodded slowly.

"I had no choice!" She told him, tears raining down her face. "They were going to kill me if I didn't." Joe lunged at her, trying to grab her throat.

"I'll kill you!" He roared. He was restrained by Baxter and another grunt before he could reach her. They held him back, pulling his arms behind his back.

"I said no talking!" Baxter snapped. He struck Joe's knee with a strong boot and knocked his foot out from under him. The boy yelled and fell onto his knees. Archer shook his head.

"It seems you have put your trust in the wrong people." He said happily. "And now you're paying the price. But now you see how foolish you were to even try and face us." He turned to Baxter. "Throw the them in with the others." He instructed.

"But don't you wanna kill 'im, boss?" Baxter asked.

"I have other plans for him." Archer said simply. "But they can be done tomorrow. Put him with his friend. Seeing as how he came all this way to save her I think they deserve to be locked in the same cell."

"Yes, boss." Baxter hauled Joe up to his feet. "You three, grab his pet!" He instructed to his grunts. A group of them rushed over and hauled Ralph up. "Looks like it's your lucky day." Baxter chuckled. "Now get moving, or I'll brake your fingers!"

Joe didn't fight back. He didn't struggle. He let the grunts carry him and Ralph away. All he could do was stare coldly at Crystal as he was dragged, wishing she'd suffer more for what she had done to him. Archer patted the girl on the shoulder.

"Good work, Crystal." He said proudly. "You've done well."

* * *

Joe was dragged into a falling down area of office rooms by the grunts. One of them opened a barred door and threw him inside. The boy landed on his side, grunting in pain from the impact. He curled up, coughing weakly. Then someone behind him spoke.

"Well you took your time getting here." She said. Joe looked up. His heart soared when he saw who it was.

"Winter!" He exclaimed. "You're okay!"

Winter was sitting against the back wall, her legs out. She looked exhausted and beaten. Her face was covered in a thin layer of dirt. She didn't look too happy to see him.

"I am, just about." She told him. Her expression was cold. "But no thanks to you."

Ralph landed next to Joe, still paralyzed and stuck in his balled up position.

"You get to stay 'ere for the night!" Baxter told them with a nasty grin. "Sleep well!" He slammed the door shut on them, taking his grunts with him as he left.

"I see you got caught too." Winter continued. Joe didn't care that she was angry. He didn't care that she was upset. He was just glad to see her again.

"I'm so happy you're okay." He exclaimed. "I was worried."

Winter glared at him. "Okay?" She snapped. "No, Joe, I'm not okay! I'm trapped in a damn prison owned by Team Rocket, and I'm only here because of you." Joe suddenly felt guilty, remembering what he had said to her earlier that day.

"I'm sorry." He said, admitting his apology. "I was in a bad place. I should never have said anything like that to you. It wasn't fare of me, and I'm sorry." Winter seemed to calm down a little.

"Well…" She muttered. Then she sighed. "God damn you, Joseph Glende!" She exclaimed. "I wanted to get really mad at you. Damn you for your honesty!" Joe chuckled. At least they hadn't hurt her spirit.

"You too know each other?" A new voice asked suddenly. Joe glanced towards it. A grunt was sitting in the corner away from them. He looked badly beaten, worse than Joe or Winter. He looked barely able to walk in fact.

"This is my friend I was talking about. "Winter explained to him. "The one Team Rocket have been trying to get rid of. The one who's been trying to stop Team Rocket." The grunt nodded.

"So it's you who's been causing us problems?" he asked. Then he nodded. "Good on you. Someone needed to stand up to us."

Joe turned to his friend. "Who's he?" He asked.

"His name's Danning." Winter told him. "He was Crystal's friend, but he tried to escape and Team Rocket killed his pokémon and locked him up for it."

Joe felt an internal anger grow in him again. "That's barbaric." He muttered. They were like this even to their own people. What kind of a leader was Archer?

"What is he doing here by himself?" Danning asked. "Why did you try and attack Archer, here of all places?"

"Crystal led me here." He explained. "She found me and Silver, after you were caught Winter. She told us you'd been kidnapped. She led me up here. But it turned out she was just leading me into a trap." Winter gasped.

"Crystal turned you in?" She asked. Joe nodded.

"I have to get out of here!" He exclaimed suddenly. "I have to stop him!" He suddenly stood up. He rose to his feet in an instant and grabbed the door by the bars. He began pulling, trying to rip it of its hinges.

"Joe?" Winter said in surprise. Joe didn't hear her. He pulled, trying to open it somehow. When that didn't work, he resorted to ramming it with his shoulder. Ralph finally manged to uncurl from his paralyzed ball, his body falling limp enough to move again. He turned and saw his companion trying to break a door down, and his friend shouting at him for it.

"Joe, stop!" Winter exclaimed. "You're only going to hurt yourself. That door's not going to come loose!" Joe ignored her. He kept ramming his shoulder into the steel slab with hinges, hoping that somehow he'd break it free.

"I'm not going to give up!" He stated, grunting with every sharp budge he gave to the fixed steel rods. "I came all this way! I'm not giving up now! Not when you're still in danger!"

"Me?" Winter exclaimed. "Why am I relevant?"

"Don't you understand?" Joe said, finally stopping trying to break out and gripping the bars tight with his sweating palms. "I came here to rescue you. I didn't care about Archer or Team Rocket. Crystal told me they had captured you, so in I ran, hoping I could get you back out." He headbutted the gate sharply. "But no!" He shouted. "I can't, can I! I bloody can't!" Winter stared at him, her face stunned.

"You came here just for me?" She asked quietly. "Why?" Joe sighed loudly. Now he'd done it. He had to say something now.

"Oh what's the point of hiding anymore?" He stated. Slowly he turned around. "Winter…" His throat swelled up with embarrassment and shyness. "I…" She continued to look at him, her eyes wide. She seemed to be waiting for something.

"What?" She asked. Joe closed his eyes. Tears began to form under them. His tongue rolled up. His oesophagus tightened and his heart felt ready to explode from within. He slumped to the ground, his back against the metal bar gate, his hair ruffled up and in a mess. Ralph sat down with him, looking at his friend in pity. Joe dropped his head, tears falling down his cheeks.

"Oh why can't I say anything?" He screamed. "Why am I so stupid? Why am I such a coward?" He began punching himself on the cheek, causing bruises to rise up.

"Joe, stop it!" Winter crawled forwards in a fast blur and grabbed his hand, restraining it as he tried to punch himself a fourth time. "Don't do that to yourself. You're the bravest guy I've ever met. Where's all this coming from?" Joe didn't answer her. He just looked at the floor as she sat next to him. Danning sighed from the corner he was sitting in. He shook his head.

"That classic teenage syndrome." He muttered. Winter glanced back at him.

"What?" She asked. "What do you know that I don't?" Danning gave a weak smile, his bruised body flinching as he did so.

"You two are a real mess." He stated. He looked over at the young boy. "Joe." He said quietly. "It's okay. Just take a deep breath… and tell her how you feel." Winter's eyes widened a little.

"How he feels?" She asked.

"Yes." Joe said, breathing in heavily, trying to calm down. He took his hat off and put it to the side, his head sweating madly with nerves. He looked up and his eyes met with Winter's. Her green irises glistened like a circular seem of glistening emeralds in a dark cave of sorrow and humanity and kindness. They were like portals to another world, a happier world, a happier future. When Joe looked at them he felt welcomed, he felt at home. When he saw her he felt wanted. He felt respected. He felt friendship. But he wanted more than that. He wanted something better. He saw her whole face now. She was so beautiful. Even when she was thrown in a prison cell she was beautiful. Even after all they had been through, as friends, as companions, she still looked amazing. She had the kind of image that was so pure, so brilliant, it was irremovable. There was nothing unnatural about how she looked. She was perfection in a female form. Joe sighed. It was time to say something. "Winter…" He said quietly. "There's something… I need… to tell you." Winter looked at him, still confused.

"What is it?" She asked. Joe inhaled, then exhaled.

"Winter…" He closed his eyes. "You know you're my best friend, right?" He asked. Winter nodded. "Well…" Joe was trying to think of the right words. None were coming, so he decide to be as subtle as he could. It would be less painful for him. "What if you were more than that to me?" He asked. Winter didn't seem to understand.

"What do you mean?" She asked. "More than a best friend?" Joe slammed his fist on the floor. Ralph and Winter jumped at the sudden sound.

"Oh for god's sake!" He exclaimed. "I can't even make you understand!" He took another breath. "Okay." He muttered. "Here goes. Winter…" He looked up, staring into the girls eyes. And she stared back. The link was made. Their meeting of his sky blue eyes and her shallow sea green eye was like the meeting of the ocean to the horizon. Now he felt something. A small spark in his heart. Something purer then innocence and life combined. He felt a sudden overwhelm of confidence. It was too late to turn back. He could do it. He felt he could tell her. He would tell her! "Winter." He said, sounding a little more confident. "I… I have feelings for you… but they're more than just friendship feelings." He said. His whole body seemed to collapse in on itself. Every muscle in his body fell weak and limp, his heart racing with embarrassment. Winter looked at him, her mouth open a little. Joe smiled slightly. He felt a strange relief now he said it. He felt like a weight had been removed from his consciousness. "Yeah." He stated, speaking up a little more. He wiped away his tears. "I do. I… I like you, Winter. I like you a lot. You're so amazing. You've never willingly left my side, no matter how angry I've got or how mean I've been to you. You never gave up on me, ever. And I…" He gulped. "I like you." Ralph put his wing around Joe's shoulder, comforting him in his difficult time. Winter took a step back on her knees, taking in the information. She seemed stunned. Her lips moved, repeating the words Joe had said quietly.

"You… like me?" She asked, sounding flustered yet also surprisingly relaxed. Joe nodded shyly.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "For a while now. Since Silph Co at least." He admitted. Winter looked up at him and gave him a small but cute smiled.

"Really?" She asked. Joe was surprised by how well she was taking this.

"Yes?" He said, looking a little confused by why she seemed so happy. Winter's smile grew a little larger.

"You have no idea how relieving that is to hear." She stated happily. Joe looked confused.

"Huh?" He asked. He looked at her smile but could not read it. Winter drew a little closer again.

"Joe…" She said, looking a little nervous herself now. "I've been waiting for you to say something like that for ages." Joe blushed.

"You mean…?" He asked. "This is mutual?" Winter nodded, her smile lighting up the room with its brilliance.

"Definitely." She stated. She crawled a little closer, sitting practically in front of Joe now, her knees were almost on his lap. "Joe… I like you too." She told him quietly. Joe gulped, his heart thumping madly.

"So…" He started to say. "When we get out of here, would you like to, maybe…" He stopped. _If_ they got out of there. He realised the true depth of their situation. Why did he have to leave the important stuff to the minute they were going to die? Why did he have to be that dumb? Winter saw his face droop again and her own smile faded.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Joe looked at the floor again.

"If we get out..." He corrected himself. "If we get out!" Tears began to form in his eyes again. "Winter… what am I doing?" He asked. The girl looked at him. "What was I thinking, coming in here to rescue you? Why did I think I could? What was going through my head? Damn Silver! He got me stirred up about it. If he hadn't pressured me into telling him my feelings for you, then maybe I'd have been more cautious."

"Silver bullied you into telling him?" Winter asked. Joe nodded. She gritted her teeth. "That little ginger prick. That's nothing he needs to know. When we get out I'm gonna have a word with him."

"And damn that Crystal girl, too!" Joe muttered. "She's the one who lead me into this trap."

"She's been through a lot already." Danning told him. "More than most teenage girls suffer through. She didn't want to hurt you. She was afraid, and worried about your friend Silver's safety, the same way you worried about Winter's. But if she hadn't done something Archer would have most likely thrown her in here with us, or worse, executed her. Can you really blame her for what she did?" Joe looked up at Danning, hatred for everything he had stood for bleeding through his eyes.

"Why do you care?!" He snapped. "You're Team Rocket. You shouldn't care what me or Winter or Silver or Crystal or any of us do or feel! Why don't you just shut up?"

"Joe." Winter said, trying to help him calm down.

"I never really was Team Rocket." Danning told him. "While I was maybe a few weeks ago my opinions towards them changed drastically when I met Crystal. Her innocence made me realise just how disgusting we were as a group. I no longer wanted to be a part of this faculty, but they don't exactly let people go. No one leaves Team Rocket, ever, without some repercussions. So, when Giovanni asked me to be his spy, why do you think I said yes?" He sighed. "And then I was caught… and my pokémon payed the price for me." He stroked the empty pokeball that had once homed his ariados. Joe glared at him.

"Why do you think I care?" He said viciously. "You certainly shouldn't." Tears began to flood down his face now.

"Hey, hey, hey." Winter wrapped her arms around Joe's shoulders, pushing herself to sit beside him and hugging him into her shoulder. Joe sat in her arms, sobbing with grief and anger and fear and embarrassment and every emotion a teenage boy could struggle with at once.

"I'm so sorry I got us all into this." He said. "I wish you hadn't met me that day. Then I wouldn't have dragged you into all this. You could have fallen for someone nice." Winter looked down at her friend.

"Why would I want someone nicer then you?" She asked. "You're the nicest guy I've ever met." Joe sniffed.

"I wish I could be more, though." He said weakly. "I feel so pathetic."

"You're not pathetic." She said. Joe didn't listen to her. So Winter did something drastic. She grabbed Joe's chin and lifted it up, turning his head to face her. They looked into each other's eyes. The two of them were mesmerised by the other. "The boy I know travelled two whole regions by himself, never giving up no matter how bad it got. He won every battle he faced. He grew his teams wisely. He made lifelong friends. He never ever let anything get him down. That boy was amazing! That boy was never, in any form or term, pathetic. He kept going, even when his friend was killed, his dad turned out to be a bad guy and he was confronted with impossible odds." She smiled cheekily. "And that boy is my best friend!" She nodded. "So he is not giving up now, not when he's got this far. He is not going to surrender, you understand. He is not going to let Archer defeat him, cos if he does I'll kill him myself." She leaned in a bit more. "So, Joseph Derek Arthur Glende, what are you going to do?" She asked. Joe looked at her, surprised she was being so stern with him. He smiled back, glad that she believed in him so much. He could see it in her eyes. She truly believed he was great. And, if she believed it, then so could he.

"I'm going to keep fighting!" Joe said back, saying the words quietly but strongly. Winter proudly smiled at him.

"That's the spirit!" She stated. "You have Ralph, and you have me. You can do anything! You're the man, dog!" She punched him lightly but encouragingly on the shoulder. Joe smiled weakly, looking down at the floor by Winter's knees.

"Thank you." He murmured, smiling a little.

"Don't mention it." Winter said proudly. "Least I can do for my BF, right." Joe smiled at her. He wondered what context she meant that in this time.

"Hey, Winter…" Joe said quietly.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"If we get out of here… when this is all over…?" He continued. "I don't suppose… you'd like to… maybe, you know… be more than friends?" Winter smiled at him.

"I'd like that." She said sweetly, smiling and blushing like an inflamed orange tree from heaven. "I'd like that a lot." Joe smiled back, blushing just as brightly.

"I'm sorry about this morning." He told her.

"It's alright." She told him. "I wasn't that hurt." She put her head on his shoulder. "But thanks all the same."

Ralph smiled at his friend. He was proud of him. All this time he had known that the two of them had secret feelings for each other, but he'd always found it so annoying that they never said anything to each other. It drove him insane on some days. But now they both knew about it. They had finally told each other, and it made him smile. Joe was like his brother. His younger, smaller, pink, weaker, human brother. Seeing the boy this happy, this in adoration, it was heart-warming. Ralph sat next to the two of them, watching with a proud smile as they cuddled nervously yet warmly in each other's arms, looking happier than they ever had been in this cold and dangerous Rocket prison cell. Ralph looked over at Danning, noticing that he was smiling too. But Joe and Winter didn't notice. They were too busy spending what could be their last day together. They weren't willing to break away from each other for anything.

When the dawn came around the two of them were still sitting there, heads resting against each other. Someone rattled the cell bars. The two of them awoke with a start, nearly knocking heads. Ralph woke up with a snap too, his eyes and wings reacting before his brain did. The only person who was slow to react was Danning, and he was too tired and unbothered to give a damn who was there to see him. The four of them look through the door window. Commander Proton was standing there, a thin smile on his face. Behind him was a collection of grunts.

"Wakey wakey, lovebirds!" He taunted cruelly. "Archer's ready to see you now. You're gonna go for a little ride."

* * *

 **Chapter 32 coming soon. Hope you can hold on till then.**


	32. Chapter 32: Awakening

**I'd just like to say before you read this chapter that I'm sorry if the ending is a little to silly. I know this is fanfiction, so technically I can add what I like, but I'd still prefer to be faithful to the original content. But I have added my own 'thing' to the story in order to make it work to my idea. I do hope this doesn't bother any of you, especially if you were expecting anything straightforward. I also hope this hasn't spoiled the chapter for you. This is the only time I will not go back and chance something that doesn't work. If I do that I'll have to change practically every chapter in this story I've done so far.  
Sorry for wasting your time, now enjoy the story.**

* * *

Silver approached Goldenrod city after running all the way from Blackthorn City in one night. He was exhausted and out of breath and very fed up and impossibly aching, but at least he was there. He collapsed to his knees taking a quick rest, then continued onwards, walking with speed into the great capital of Johto. Beside him Croconaw ran as well, huffing and puffing as his much smaller legs struggled to keep up with his trainer. Silver had decided to let his pokémon out for a bit off company, so that he wouldn't be so board on the way to the large glowing city. What he hadn't realised was that he'd have to wait up every thirty seconds for Croconaw to catch up with him. This certainly made things more difficult.

"Come on… slowpoke." Silver called cheekily back to his pokémon, huffing with lack of breath. "We're… nearly there. You can… make it!" Croconaw called something rather obscene back, but fortunately Silver couldn't understand it because it was in poke speech. He chuckled and kept running.

Ten minutes later and they were at the city walls. He never thought a few layers of brick and several large metal buildings could look so comfortable. By this point he'd happily rest on the floor. It was 4 in the morning. He had run all the way back through the Ice path, down route 44, through Mahogany town again, across route 42, past mount mortar, south through Ecruteak City, down route 37 and finally, finally after all that running, he had passed through National Park. After a short job through route 35 he was there, at his designated location. Next time he was taking the bus.

"Well…" He said, trying to walk again, but suddenly finding his leg bones had been replaced with squeaky dog toys. "Let's not… stand around… any longer." He tried to think his words, but his inability to stand any longer was proving a real problem. "Let's… get… them!" He collapsed face first. A small groan escaped from his currently flattened mouth. "I am never running again!" He exclaimed exhaustedly. Croconaw rolled his eyes. He was going to have to carry him now. He resigned himself to it, deciding to just get on with it. At least Silver had only released him near Mt Mortar. He'd had to surf them across the water, but at least that wasn't too tiring. He grabbed Silver by the collar and began dragging his surprisingly heavy body across the street pavement. The boy chuckled with a groan mixed into it somewhere. "Thank you!" He said, exhaling the words rather than speaking them. Croconaw grumbled annoyed.

The two of them eventually made it to the police station, dragging not only their feet but also their faces, when they came across a few recognisable faces.

"So, what are you saying exactly?" A confused police officer was asking a couple of trainers. "You're saying that your friend wasn't stealing, but was in fact putting back?"

"That's exactly it." The Girl explained. She had long blue hair. "He's a bit of an idiot, you see. He likes putting his hands on things. He didn't know someone already owned it."

"Yeah." The boy agreed. He had short green hair. "I mean, anyone can make that mistake. Anyone could accidentally try to catch a Wobbufett and not know it was already owned by another trainer."

"Most people tend not to use nets when doing so, though." The officer argued. The two trainers looked a little flustered.

"He, uh, has his own style of catching pokémon." The girl reasoned.

"Netting is illegal!" The officer reminded them.

"We've been trying to get him to stop." The boy told him fumblingly. "Can't you just let him off on a warning?" He asked.

The figure behind the glass cell slammed his hands on it window loudly, making everyone stare at him. He was also a trainer, except he had red hair and yellow eyes. He stared at his friends. "Ruby! Ross!" Get me out of here!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

"Shut up, Frank!" They both shouted back. The boy behind the cell sat down again, falling quiet and glaring at his two friends.

Silver shook his head. Team Ace. They were somehow always around whenever bad things were going to happen. Half the time they seemed to be the cause of them. But Silver hadn't seen them for a while. Apparently this is where they'd been. He pushed himself up from the floor and onto his legs again. He was just about able to stand up. His body was refusing to stay put, but he forced himself. He had a job to do. He stepped forwards.

"Look, there's nothing I can do I'm afraid." He said to the two trainers in red. "You'll just have to wair a few days till he's free to go."

"That's Tauros Crap!" Ross snapped. The policeman gave him a cold glare.

"I demand to take it up with your chief, or whoever's in charge of this place!" Ruby demanded.

"Well you can try taking it up with the chief…" The officer muttered, surrendering. "But I doubt you'll get anywhere."

"Excuse me!" Silver called as he approached, holding his arm out to get the man in blue uniform's attention. "Officer!" He called.

The officer glanced at him, then waved a hand. "One second sir. Let me just finish dealing with this." He told him.

"It's important!" Silver butted in again. "Very, very important."

"Just wait your turn, sir…" The officer said. "And I'll get to you."

"The city's in danger!" Silver stated suddenly. The officer froze. Slowly he turned to face the redhead boy.

"Say that again?" He asked, seemingly confused. "What danger?"

"It's Team Rocket!" Silver told him. "They're planning to attack the City today! I've run all the way here from Blackthorn to warn you!" The policeman was silent.

"Team Rocket?" He repeated. "Why would they attack the city?" He questioned.

Silver Shrugged "I dunno, but that's what they're gonna do!"

The Officer was suddenly suspicious. "How do you know this?" He asked.

"I…" Silver paused. He didn't want to bring Crystal into this. She was already hurt enough. Getting her in trouble with the police was the last thing he wanted. "I was informed by a reliable source." He said deceitfully. The officer looked suspicious of him.

"How am I meant to trust you?" He asked.

"Just please." Silver began to beg. "Trust me. Team Rocket are most likely on their way right now!"

"I didn't come in tonight expecting this." The officer muttered.

"Please believe me!" Silver began to shout. "My friends and I have been battling the rockets for the last few weeks or so. We've been trying to stop them, but they have an army and their eyes are set on this place! You have to warn everyone, get them to safety, get the frigging army out here, and just stop them!" The officer took a seat, trying to take in everything he had said.

"Why are these friends of yours?" He asked.

Silver sighed, exhausted of running and exhausted of talking. "One of them's Joe Glende." He stated simply. "We were involved in an incident involving Team Rocket and a blimp outside Ecruteak City a week ago." He added.

"Glende." The police officer repeated. "That rings a bell. I saw a report. He said something about Team Rocket, too. Something about being their number one most wanted."

"That's him." Silver agreed. "He's definitely their most hatted person in the region. And it's him who tried to fight them when they showed up in that blimp. It was he who brought it down and nearly took out their three commanders."

The officer rubbed his nose. "Well…." He muttered, slightly impressed. "If that's true, then it's pretty impressive."

"So do you believe me?" Silver asked. The officer said nothing. He seemed to be thinking. They he spun the chair around, picking up his walkie-talkie from the desk and switching it on.

"Chief." He called into it. The signal wavered with a crack, then he got a response. "We have a serious problem coming in." The officer said quickly. A question of inquiry came from the other end. "It's Team Rocket, Sir." The officer explained. "They're going to attack the city today!" He stated. There was a slightly distorted shout of 'What?' on the other end of the radio. The chief went on with instructions before the officer went "Okay Sir. I'll alert the men." and switched the radio off.

"Thank you." Silver said gratefully.

"You've done well, kid." The police officer told him. "Now we know they're coming, and we may be able to stop them." He rushed behind the desk, flinging his hat onto his head as he picked it up and began opening his draws. "There aren't many of us here, but we might be able to get enough trainers to help out, rather than flee." He stood up again, a baton hanging from his belt and a gun in his holster. "I'd suggest you lot either get to cover or help us hold them back." He said commandingly. "Either way, get ready for a fight." He stepped back around the desk and hurried of to the door, slamming a large red button as he did so. The station alarm went off. From behind closed doors the trainers could hear the sound of several other officers jumping from their resting locations and into action.

"Hey, what about our friend?" Ruby shouted after the officer. "He's still locked up."

The officer stopped. He turned and pulled out a small keyring with only a few keys on it. He threw it to Ruby, who caught it with ease, a confused expression on her face. "The silver key opens that cell." He explained. "Consider this that warning you mentioned." Then he flung open the doors, propped them open with a nearby chair and hurried out into the rising sun morning, his hands pulling out his firearm from its holster.

"That was perfect timing." Ruby muttered, finally acknowledging that Silver was there. She threw the keys to Ross. "Quick, get Frank out of the cell." She instructed. Ross nodded and rushed over to the glass cell, fiddling as he tried to fit the key into the lock.

"About frigging time!" Frank muttered, gritting his teeth with annoyance.

"So this is where you three got too?" Silver asked, looking at the trio. "Where've you been? You left me and my friends to deal with the police!" Ruby looked at him, her expression both apologetic and annoyed.

"Look, I'm sorry we left you there, but really what could we have done. The police would've just taken us too, except we have a criminal record so we weren't likely to be coming back out."

"You can thank Frank for that problem." Ross called from across the room.

"Where's those friends of yours?" Ruby asked. "Joe, Ralph and… what's the girl's name?"

"Winter?" Silver asked.

"Yeah, her." Ruby told him. "Where are they? I thought they would want to be at the centre of the fight."

"They're…" Silver paused. He didn't really want to explain why they weren't present. There wasn't enough time to explain it. "They're occupied with other problems right now." He told her simply. "But I'm sure they'll show up soon enough."

Ruby nodded. "Sounds about right." She agreed. "We've known them since Kanto. If they're anywhere, they'll be near trouble."

The lock clinked suddenly as Ross finally unlocked the door. Frank stepped out from the glass cell and stretched his arms, yawning, before reverting back to his ditto form.

"You have no idea how good it feels to be free." He said, cracking his non-existent spine.

"The next time you do that, I'm leaving you in there!" Ross stated simply. Frank looked at him, a fleshy eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I'm sorry I made a mistake." He said sarcastically. "But what was I supposed to do?"

"You could have not swung your net." Ross suggested.

"You were telling me to!" Frank snapped back.

"We don't have time for this, you two!" Ruby shouted at them. "We need to go, before Team Rocket shows up."

Silver looked stunned. "Wait a minute, you can't just leave!" He told her, blocking her path. "We need all the help we can get. You can't just go now!"

"Oh yes we can." Ruby told him stubbornly. "And we are." She looked back at her team. Come on, Ross. Frank." She attempted to push past Silver, but he wasn't letting any of them walk out.

"What can I say to change your mind?" He asked her.

"Oh, so your resorting to bribery now." She stated aggressively. "Sorry, but you aren't changing our minds."

Silver was begging to get a little desperate. He didn't exactly want them to stay and help, but they needed every helping trainer they could get. "I'll pay you." He stated desperately. Ruby paused in mid step.

"How much?" She asked.

"A hundred poke." Silver told her quickly. Then he added "Each."

The dollar signs literally rolled across the trio's eyes.

"Done!" Ruby stated, grabbing Silver's hand and shaking it firmly. "Alright, we'll help you out. Will you pay us now or after the battle?"

"After." Silver told her, a little stunned. "If we live that long that is."

"Of course there's a catch." Frank muttered. "There always is."

"Shush!" Ruby hissed at him.

"Ruby, are you sure you want to do this?" Ross asked, surprised by her actions. "I mean, we could get killed." Ruby turned to him.

"Look boys…" She stated simply. "I know you're scared. I know you're absolutely wetting your pants at the idea of this."

"I'm not wearing pants." Frank suddenly realised, his face going a little pale. "Oh god!"

"But, just for this once, we will not run away." Ruby continued. "For once, we stand against the danger. We will face it head on with our friend, take on whatever's coming at us, and we'll win! We are Team Ace!" She shouted, raising her right arm to the air. "Are you with me, boys?" She roared.

Ross and Frank looked at each other, then back at her.

"No." They both said.

"JUST DO IT!" Ruby screamed at them, suddenly snapping and turning into a horrific monster. The two male members of Team Ace literally dropped a couple of bricks.

"O-o-o-okay!" They both mumbled fearfully. Ruby crossed her arms, looking like a malicious queen who had just ordered a thousand executions.

"Good." She stated simply. She turned back to Silver, who was wide eyed. "I think that means we're going to help you out." She told him, smiling a little smugly.

Silver nodded slowly. "Great." He muttered, starting to think asking for their help was a very, very bad idea. He coughed. "All right then." He said, thinking up his plan. "We should get out there and see what's going on." The four of them rushed outside into the sunlight.

* * *

Joe was shoved out of the prison at weapon point, his hands tied behind his back. Ahead of him Winter and Danning were being forced along, and behind him a couple of grunts were struggling to restrain Ralph. They had him tied up in a net, yet he was still persisting to fight back in a desperate attempt to escape. There was no denying he was causing trouble for the grunts, but they seems to be able to put up with it, long enough at least to throw him into the back of a jeep. The three human prisoners were led to the garage, where the commanders began herding their grunts into long bulky trucks. They were assembling their army. Joe didn't know how many grunts they had, but it must have been around two hundred. Enough to take the city if it was unguarded, and possibly enough to overpower it if it was. But something told him Archer had something else up his sleeve. The main reason he thought that was because he was still alive. Archer hadn't killed him yet. He hadn't even tried to. That meant he wanted him for something. He didn't know what yet, but he'd probably soon find out.

As Commander Proton shoved him forwards they passed by a large room to the side, with two grunts trying to slam the heavy door shut. The door was very nearly closed, but proving to be a task, its metal frame scrapping across the sleek ground. Joe held his head low, feeling bad about himself. He had let himself get caught. He should have paid more attention. He looked up. Crystal wasn't around. Neither was Archer. That was a good think. The next time he saw them he would kill them, no remorse, no second chances.

And then suddenly he heard a faint whispering voice. It wasn't distant, in fact it sounded as though it was directly behind him. It didn't sound weak either. The voice sounded as though whoever was talking was trying to do so as secretly as possible.

 _'_ _Do not let him do this! Do not let him awaken it!'_ The voice didn't sound as though it was in his ear. It sounded as though it was in the back of his head. As if something was speaking to him telepathically. He glanced back. There was nothing there. The two grunts finally closed the door, and as they did so the voice disappeared. There was nothing around that could have spoken to him. Proton glared angrily at him.

"Face the front!" He snapped, shoving Joe in the back. He tripped forwards, continuing to walk ahead, keeping his face to the front. But he didn't forget it. Why had he heard a voice? What was it warning him about? What was Archer going to awaken? As much as he didn't want to find out, he knew he would soon. It was likely he was being taken there at that point.

He didn't have much more of a chance to talk about it. He, Winter and Danning were shoved into a larger jeep, riding with Ariana and Proton and a few grunt guards as their army prepared to drive to war.

"There's so many people." Ruby muttered, looking at the crowds that were filling up the street ahead of them. "I would have thought there could be this many people in one city."

"Let's just be glad there are." Silver told her. "We'll need them to fight off Team Rocket, if we want to survive this day at least."

The four of them were standing at the edge of the street in front of the Police Station. Everybody and their frail old grandma was out, having heard the alarms that the police had sounded. The message had been spread. The warning had been made. And everyone was acting. Most were seeking shelter. This was only natural. They were civilians. They wouldn't know how to fight, or defend themselves in a pokémon battle. They were being shepherded into the city underground in an orderly, yet quick passed, fashion. This was the apparent usual panic room, the same place they'd be herded to in an earthquake incident. This was probably close enough to that situation. But the collection of people who did know how to fight, who did know how to battle pokémon, they remained in the streets, standing in their groups and listening to the police's instructions. A defence plan was being formed. It seemed that whoever the town police commander was, he was a smart man. He had explained the situation, and was currently sorting the willing trainers and policemen into groups, each of which would patrol and defend a certain end of the city. If they spotted anyone wearing a Rocket Uniform, they were to call the alarm. It seemed to make sense. And they weren't forgetting the chance of an aerial attack either. They had put several gun holding officers on standby on some of the taller houses, just in case a blimp should show up. It was admirable the amount everyone was going to, just to keep the city safe. If Silver had been the boy he was weeks ago, he would have bolted instantly without a second though. Thank god a lot of people here weren't like him. Some had run, but most had stayed. That fact alone was enough to keep his moral high.

Silver folded his arms at he looked at the makeshift army forming in the streets.

"It's kind of admirable." Ross muttered. His two companions looked at him. "In a disgusting way." He added quickly, spotting their expressions.

"Why would the rockets be attacking this place?" Frank asked. "I mean, it's not like there's much here they'd want."

"I don't know." Silver told them truthfully. "But they must have some reason." He watched a squad of younger trainers being led by two police men walk down the street towards the north road of the city. "Some mad, mad reason." And then he paused. He'd just noticed someone enter the pokémon centre a few streets down. This was odd for one major reason. The pokémon centre had been blocked off. All the people who needed to use it had already been seen to by the nurses. So why was someone going back in right now. But there was more than that. Upon a first glance Silver could have sworn it was someone he knew. "Did you just see that?" He asked quietly.

"See what?" Ruby asked.

"Someone just entered the pokémon centre." Silver told them.

"So?" Ross stated. "It is a pokémon centre. People are going to be coming in and out of it."

"I just thought for a second…" He mumbled. "I'm just gonna go check it out." He said quickly. He walked down the road, towards the orange roofed building. Team Ace looked at each other.

"Where's he going?" Frank asked.

"Dunno." Ruby told him. "Something about the pokémon centre."

Frank chuckled a little. "Maybe he's going mad?"

Ruby gave him a look that said 'inappropriate' all over it. "Not right now, Frank." She reminded him. "We've got a battle coming up. We'll need to be ready for it." They stood there in quiet for a few seconds.

"We should probably follow him to check." Ross stated suddenly.

"Oh, alright!" Ruby snapped. "Honestly, you two drive me insane, and not in a good way!"

"Is there a good way to drive someone insane?" Frank pondered hypothetically. Ruby sighed.

"Just come on." She instructed, starting her slow walk after the redhead trainer.

Silver entered the pokémon centre. Someone had indeed walked into it, he hadn't been wrong about that. But he had gotten his hopes up. For a split second he had hoped it was Crystal, coming to find him, or maybe Joe or Winter. But it wasn't any of them. The man walking towards the PC looked to possibly be a farmer type. He had the body for it. But his clothes were more like a professional pokémon trainer wore. His leather jacket was black, his simple trousers were navy blue, with dark blue camouflage, and his boots were worn but sturdy and made of a leather similar to his jacket. He had the collar of a simple grey shirt poking out from under his jacket. His hair was greying black and short, and on top of his head sat a simply black trilby hat. He turned upon hearing the doors open, and stopped walking when he saw the redhead boy enter the room. It seemed that he'd been expecting someone else also. It didn't take Silver long to realise there was something about the man.

"I know you, don't I?" Silver asked. The man looked at him blankly.

"Um, I'm sorry kid, but I don't think we've met." He told him simply.

Silver wasn't easily deterred. "No, I'm certain that I know you." He said again, trying to think hard about why or how. "I've seen your face somewhere definitely."

"Well I wouldn't know about that." The man told him. "I'm not exactly famous. I'm just a farmer who's come here from Kanto." He glanced back at the PC. "I just came to use the PC." He admitted. "I won't be long. I'm just here looking for my nephew."

"Nephew?" Silver repeated. And then suddenly he realised exactly where he knew him from. He'd seen this man once, when he just so happened to glance at the PC when Joe was making a call. He'd seen this man on the other end, the one he'd been talking to. This was him. "You're Joe Glende's uncle aren't you?" He realised suddenly. "You're Walker Glende." The man looked surprised.

"Do you know my nephew by any chance?" He asked. Silver suddenly realised that he was acting a little hostile towards the man, who was a relative of his closest friend. He pulled his legs together and stood straight, bowing humbly towards him.

"I'm sorry I was so rude to you." He apologised. "Joe isn't here right now. Nor is Winter or Ralph. They…" He paused. "They went to the rocket base to try and defeat Archer before the battle." The man who was Walker Glende sighed.

"That sounds like my Nephew all right." He muttered. "So you're Silver then?" He asked. Silver nodded. "Yes." Walker looked the boy up and down. "My nephew certainly mentioned you." Silver wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Silver interrupted quickly. "But I'm afraid we don't have time."

"No." Walker agreed. "The cities about to be attacked, and we need to be prepared for it." He glanced to the PC again. "I just need to withdraw my pokémon, and then I'll be out to help."

The doors suddenly slid open again. Team Ace ran in. And then they stopped. Silver and Walker turned to look at them. Team Ace seemed confused.

"Who's this, Silver?" Frank asked loudly. Walker turned to the trio, took of his hat and bowed his head.

"You must be more of Joe's friends." He said welcomingly. "It's nice to meet you all." Team Ace looked at each other puzzled.

"Well, you could say that." Ruby muttered.

"Mr Glende, this is Team Ace." Silver said simply, making it sound less like an introduction and more like a statement. Walker looked at the trio, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Oh." He muttered. "So you're the three who've been annoying my Nephew then?" He realised. Team Ace tapped their feet awkwardly.

"Yeah." Ruby admitted. "My name's Ruby." She said.

"And I'm Ross." Ross added. The two of them glanced at Frank. "And this is Frank." Ross said. Frank was sitting there, his jelly mouth hanging slightly open.

"Hold on!" Frank stated suddenly. "Hold on a minute!" He had just realised something. "So you're Joe's uncle then?" He asked. His teammates sighed. It had taken him a whole minute to figure that out. Walker nodded.

"Yes, I am." He told him simply. "But I'm afraid we don't have much time for niceties." He stated simply.

"That's right." Silver agreed. "Team Rocket are about to attack the city, and we need to help fight them back." He turned back to Walker. "Mr. Glende." He asked. "Would you please help us fight them off. It's for your Nephew's sake."

Walker looked at the boy. A warm smile appeared on his face. "I hadn't intended to just leave you all." He admitted. "I had hoped Joe would be here, but you said he isn't. But he's a smart lad. He can take care of himself. Right now I'm needed here, helping out as best I can." Silver smiled back.

"Thank you." He said gratefully.

"No worries." Walker told him kindly.

"Joe told us that you used to be in Team Rocket." Silver told him. "Would you have any idea what their plan would be?" He asked. Walker was silent for a second.

"I do know of their plan." He admitted. "But it's too late to stop it now. The only thing we can do is prepare and defend the city when the attack comes." He glanced between the trainers. "Are all your pokémon fully evolved?" He asked. Ross and Ruby nodded.

"Ours are." Ruby told him.

"What do you have?" Walker asked. The two trainer's faces went cold.

"You want to see them?" Ruby asked, seemingly not liking the idea.

"It would probably be a good idea to get them out, yes." Walker told her. "We do have a battle coming up. Being prepared would be a good place to start." Ross and Ruby didn't seem to eager to agree with him.

"You sure you should let Ursula out of her ball?" Ross whispered to Ruby. "She might destroy this place the second she does."

"I know." Ruby whispered to Ross. "But he's asked me to, so now I have to. Besides, we need her in this battle."

"What are we whispering about?" Frank whispered to Ruby and Ross. They glanced at him, angrily. The trio turned back to Walker quickly, and nodded.

"Alright." Ruby agreed. "We'll, uh… we'll let them out." The two human members of Team Ace withdrew all their pokeballs and released them onto the ground. On Ross's side appeared his Nidorino, his Ledian, his Dunsparce and his Scyther. On Ruby's side appeared her Nidorina, her Skiploom, her girafarig and her… Ursaring! Walker took an instinctive step back when he saw this one appear. The dark brow furred bear was huge, with massive sharp claws and a strong jaw to boot. This pokémon was designed to be tough and very strong. Ursaring looked at the two humans standing in front of it, supposedly looking them over and checking to see if they were a threat. "Now, Ursula." Ruby commanded, standing beside her pokémon and stroking its fur. "Just stay calm. Don't do anything destructive." She spoke as if the pokémon had done this before, and quite recently too. Ursula continued to glare at the two of them. Then she lay down and went to sleep. Ruby sighed with relief. "I think that went well." She muttered. "At least she didn't try to wreck this place like last time."

"There was a last time to that?" Silver asked, so backed up he had nearly walked through the wall. Walker chuckled a little.

"Well you certainly do have a hefty number of pokémon." He agreed. "Let's just hope they can hold back Team Rocket." He turned to Silver again. "And what about you, Silver?" He asked. Silver shrugged.

"I don't have to many pokémon." He admitted.

"That doesn't matter." Walker told him. "I'd just like to see them." Silver obliged. He unclipped all his pokeballs.

"Come on out, guys!" He instructed. All his pokémon appeared in front of him. First Sneasel, then Magneton, then Kadabra, then Haunter, then Noctowl, and then finally his oldest friend, Croconaw. Walker looked at them and hummed.

"You have a nice number of strong pokémon." He told him. "But a few of them could do with evolving."

"I can't make Croconaw evolve sooner." Silver told him. "He'll evolve when he's ready."

"But I can help you evolve the other two." Walker interrupted quickly.

Silver looked at him. Quickly he glanced at Haunter and Kadabra. "You'd be willing to do that?" He asked. Walker nodded.

"Of course." He turned to the PC and booted it up. The sound echoed around the abandoned pokémon centre. He made a quick transaction, withdrew six pokeballs, and closed the PC. He turned around again. "As you see, I have my own pokémon." He admitted. And then he dropped the pile of pokeballs. Each ball burst open before it struck the floor, releasing the pokémon inside. Walker's pokémon stood before him. A pidgeot, a butterfree, a blastoise, a kangaskhan, a hitmonlee, and a proud looking arcanine. He smiled at the trainers. "And I'm sure that we can help you out in whatever way necessary."

* * *

The jeep shook about as the road they travelled down got rougher to traverse. Joe found he was struggling to stay sat up. The movement was knocking his balance off. At one point he nearly slipped onto the floor. Commander proton just chuckled as he watched the boy try to stay seated without a seatbelt. Joe refused to show his annoyance however. That would only fuel him to continue. He glanced up and saw Winter looking back at him. She gave him a weak smile of encouragement, looking him in the eyes as if to ask if he was okay. Joe smiled back at her as if to say yes. But as they both smiled at each other a unified thought seemed to telegram itself between them. The thought went something like this.

'We are doomed. We don't stand a chance, do we? They're taking us away to some quiet location where they can deal with us. We aren't coming back from this. They're probably going to do all sorts of things to us, and they we're going to die. And we were so bloody close, too. If only we had been more confident.'

Winter found her eyes turning towards the floor of the jeep, her smile fading away slowly. Joe's own smile disappeared with it. As much as he wanted to stay confident, the truth was he didn't know how they were going to get out of it. Archer had them trapped, and his commanders certainly weren't going to turn a blind eye. And around all of their grunts there was no chance of battling their way out. They had been stupid enough to leave them with their pokeballs, but with their arms tied up and being constantly watched there was no way to reach them without being scene. Ralph had given up his struggle with the net, and was now just lying under it in the middle of the Jeep, curled up in his wings and possibly sobbing. Danning was just silent in the corner. There was nothing he could do, say or think that would be of any help, so he chose to do literally nothing. Joe sighed as he realised his true predicament. And the jeep rolled along over its bumpy road, being followed by five to seven lorry loads of Rocket Grunts as they sped to their target location.

* * *

Silver stood out in the street, his hands by his feet. Beside him Croconaw waddled up, looking concerned. Silver's hand ran down the back of his head, scratching the side of his neck. Croconaw made a gurgling reptilian purr. And then beside him his other pokémon showed up. Noctowl, Magneton and Sneasel all stood alongside him, preparing themselves for a fight. But two were missing. Silver glanced back. Haunter and Kadabra weren't around. But he wasn't worried. A few seconds later two pokémon popped into existence in front of him, one in a psychic shimmer and one in a ghostly mist. A Gengar and an Alakazam were standing in front of him now. Silver had to admit, Walker hadn't been lying about his promise. Now he had a better chance at a winning fight. Team Ace turned up next to him, their own pokémon beside them now. Walker wasn't there. He had gone to do something. But the three trainers, and Frank, were prepared. War was coming to them, and it was their job to tell it to sod off and go back home.

* * *

"We're here!" Proton said. The jeep doors opened and one by one the prisoners were shuffled out onto the road. Joe jumped down onto the path, landing on both feet with his arms still tied up, and looked at his surroundings. They were standing in the middle of an ancient ruin. It seemed to be the oldest place he'd ever seen in both Johto and Kanto, the few building remains that there were looking way beyond aged and withered. They seemed almost prehistoric, with weird patterns carved on the brick and an aura of many thousands of years surrounding them. This place could have quite possibly been around since the dawn of civilisation. It was clear however that Team Rocket were not here for a history lesson, nor were they here to investigate or study it. They were here for something specific. Winter and Danning were shoved out behind him, followed by Ralph who was being carried in his net by two grunts, and then Proton. The other commanders walked towards them from their jeep, followed by four or five other grunts, two of whom were Baxter and Gilbert. But also following them was Crystal. She looked absolutely petrified, as if her life was going to be threatened at any second. The Lorries full of Rocket grunts were parked in a row to the sides, their drivers standing beside them and keeping their eyes open for trouble. Archer strolled up to his prisoners, his arms crossed behind his back and standing with an air of victory to him. He leaned in towards the four of them, his mask hiding whatever his face was showing.

"Do you know where we are?" He said. The four prisoners glared at him. "We are at the Ruins of Alph." Archer explained simply. "This place was one believed to be a shrine, and then it became a scientific experiment. And now it is a ruin."

"Very interesting." Winter muttered spitefully. Archer gave her a glance, but he chose to ignore her comment.

"Do you know why we are here?" He asked simply. Joe glared at him.

"Not a clue." He spat. Archer seemed to grin, although it was tough to tell under his wool mask.

"You'll find out soon enough." He growled. He stood up straight and turned to Proton. "Get them moving." He instructed.

"Yes, sir." His commander nodded and began shoving the three humans forward, the grunts following along with the struggling netted crobat.

They were led into the ruins and then down a flight of ancient stone steps. The rock was withered and seemed to crumble slightly under their weight as they stepped on it. But the group managed to make it down. At the bottom of the primeval house was a tunnel dug into a rock surface in the basement. It turned out that was where they were going. Archer and his commanders Petrel and Ariana lead them inside, while Petrel, Baxter, Crystal and the other grunts followed behind, some of them making sure their prisoners didn't try to escape or do anything funny. Joe wouldn't have done so even if he wanted to. He'd been made curious as to why they were here, and he wanted to know what exactly it was Archer was planning to do. They continued on, the tunnel getting steeped as it head downwards into the earth. They walked on for a while, the light of their torches the only thing illuminating the path. And then they reached a hallway of stone. Joe and Winter were amazed by what they found themselves standing in. From right to left was a ten meter wide and infinitely long carved stone hallway. Still burning torches dotted the walls every metre in, providing enough light to see and travel by. The big question was how where they still lit, and if someone was still lighting them then who, or what, was doing it.

"Wow." Joe whispered. Proton looked at him and chuckled slightly, as if his amazement at such a sight was silly for some reason.

"Alright, boys." Archer announced suddenly. "You know why we're here. Let's find the great chamber quick." His commanders and grunts nodded conformingly.

"Should be this way, sir." Petrel told him, pointing ahead of them. They began walking again, Baxter and his friends shoving their prisoners along, rather roughly. As they walked Joe looked at the walls. They were etched with weird shapes that seemed to almost be letters. They had a similarity to English lettering, but each shape had a weird circle fused into it, with one small dot at the centre.

"Unown." Danning explained quietly. Joe and Winter looked at him.

"What's Unown?" Winter asked.

"It's tough to explain." Danning told her. "They're technically pokémon, but pokémon that are born from hieroglyphic symbols. They're an ancient species, but they don't exist anymore."

"Shut it!" Baxter snapped, shoving Danning in the back. The beaten man stumbled a little.

"Let him talk!" Joe said, glaring at the fat grunt. Baxter growled, but surprisingly he let Danning continue.

"Like I said, I don't really know…" Danning continued. "But it's said that Unown had strange powers that no other pokémon have ever demonstrated. It was even said that they were able to create anything they wanted." There was silence.

"Anything?" Joe asked. Danning nodded. An expression of slight realisation and moderate fear appeared on Joe's face. "Let's hope they don't exist anymore." He muttered. "Otherwise, I might have figured out why Archer has come here."

They eventually reached the end of the massive hallway, and at its end was a set of massive metal doors. The grunts immediately went to push it open. It was very heavy and tough to move, but fortunately they only needed to open it slightly in order to get in.

"Go in." Archer instructed, forcing the prisoners in first. Joe, Winter, Danning and the grunts restraining Ralph entered to the titanic ajar doorway. And what was on the other side was something most people could only imagine it their wildest dreams. Ahead of them was a room that was big enough to size a god. And at the far end of it was a stone pyramid, with one massive square door at its centre base. At least half way across the room from them was a pillar, with a stone tablet attached to it. Sitting at the base of the pillar was a skeleton, its bones bleached white and so old that it was practically fossilised. Archer walked a few steps ahead, never turning his head away from the giant rock marvel in front of him. He seemed to be studying it. Then he turned back quickly. "Bring the prisoners to me." He instructed. The grunts shoved Joe and his companions towards the Team Rocket leader, struggling a little with Ralph as he started to struggle again. He seemed to be panicking. Something about the pyramid was rattling him up. It was as if some kind of aura was telling him to run from it, run as far as he could and then even further than that. But Archer wasn't running away. He had found what he was after. "Stop." Archer instructed suddenly, holding his hand up. His men stopped. "Bring be just the boy." He stated. Joe was dragged away from his friends and thrown in front of Archer. The commander looked down at him. Joe glared back.

"Okay." He muttered coldly. "Okay. You've brought me here. Now what?" Archer tilted his head a little.

"Now what?" He asked. "Now, you will do as I ask." He said simply. He took a step back. "Open the pyramid." He said simply. Joe stared at him.

"What?" He asked, checking to see if he'd heard the man right.

"I said, open the pyramid." Archer repeated. Joe continued to stare at him.

"And how do you expect me to do that?" He demanded. "I can't move those doors by myself."

Archer chuckled. "I don't expect them to move them with your hands." He cackled. Joe looked confused.

"Then how do you expect me to open it?" He asked. Archer turned and looked at the stone pillar and tablet with the skeleton under it.

"With that." He said simply. Joe chuckled.

"You really are mad." He told him stubbornly. "How do you expect me to use that to open a massive door?"

"You area stupid boy." Archer told him coldly. "Go over there, and learn for yourself." Joe glared at him.

"If you think I'm doing anything to tell me to, you're wrong." He stated bravely. Archer glanced to his commander and nodded. Proton nodded back. He grabbed Winter by the hair, pulling her away from the group and placing a gun to her head. Joe glanced back at his friend with worry.

"Do as I say, or she dies." Archer said simply. Joe turned back and glared at the man.

"Don't." Winter tried to say, but the gun barrel kept her from talking further.

"Shut. It." Proton instructed slowly.

Joe glared at the leader of Team Rocket. "If you hurt her!" He stated furiously.

"I won't hurt her." Archer told him. "So long as you do as you're told." He leaned in a little. "So, are you going to help us or not?" Archer asked. Joe sighed. He had no choice. He couldn't let Winter get hurt.

"Okay." He muttered weakly. "Okay. I'll do as you say." Archer nodded.

"Good boy." He said. He stepped aside. "Now, get working."

"Why do I have to do it?" Joe asked him. Archer stopped.

"I told you to do as I say." He snapped coldly.

"I'm just asking." Joe said. "Why me? Why can't you do it?"

Archer looked at him through his covered eyes. "Because it would not accept my hand." He said simply. "You see, only someone who has been contacted by a legendary pokémon my touch the tablet." He explained. "It will not work for anyone else. And I'm not stupid. There's no way you could ever succeeded in getting this far without having the help of a legendary behind you." He crossed his arms, a gun appearing in one hand. "So it's you and only you that can make it work. Not me. Not my commanders. Not your friends. Not even you're Crobat. You, and only you. And cutting your hand off and using that won't work either, otherwise we would have done that. It has to be attached to your body at the time. It must be _you_ that works it, and no one else, or he will never awake."

"Who will never awake?" Joe asked.

Archer said nothing. "You'll see soon enough." He took a step back, allowing the boy space. "Now, boy, get to work."

Joe gave Winter a short glance, as if to say 'It'll be okay'. She looked back at him with worrying fearful eyes. She knew that this was going to go badly somehow, it just had to. Archer was probably going to blow them all up. Joe did as he was told. He stepped up to the pillar. The skeleton lay at his feet, looking peaceful in a time of war. Joe noticed a piece of paper was rolled in its hand. He pulled it free, taking the skeletons fingers with it. With a disgusted grunt he shook the fingers of and unrolled the scroll. On it was one simple scribbled note, in the same hieroglyphic symbols he'd seen on the walls in the hallway. Except now that they were lined up he could see what they were. They were letters. Simple as that. They were English letters. In the dark light they had seemed so complex, but in this open room, with light falling through the cracked roof, he could see that the patterns matched the Alphabet. They read one sentence alone.

 **'** **Never Stir the Titan's Sleep!'**

Joe shuddered. The titan's sleep. What was it Archer had him doing? What was he going to stir exactly?" He could only hope it meant the stir as in 'mix' and the not the stir as in 'wake up'. Joe dropped the piece of paper. It fluttered to the floor gently. He looked at the tablet. On it were a selection of smaller tablets, each reading a single unown letter. He looked at each table, as they were lined up in three rows on top of each other. They read…

 **'H E E A'**

 **' L'**

 **' T'**

Joe puzzled at them. He wondered what it was he was supposed to do. They letters made no sense. Was supposed to make them make sense, possibly by rearranging them? It wasn't too obvious. All the piece of paper had said was 'Never Stir the Titan's Sleep'. That wasn't very helpful for figuring out this puzzle. He turned back to Archer.

"I will not help you." The man stated sternly. "In order for it to work you must figure it out for yourself." Joe glared at him. He was really beginning to test his patience now. Joe looked back to the tablets, hoping to possibly figure out some form of pattern, anything that may give away what the answer was. He stood there for a few minutes, pondering over it. And then he noticed something. It was a small detail, easily overlooked, but somehow it made sense of it all. Each row had a specific set of tablets on. The first had four, the second had five and the third had six. Was this supposedly an indicator for how long each word was? He decided this was the best place to start in figuring it out. He moved the letter around a bit, until he was able to form a few four letter words out of them. He made 'hear', 'kiln', 'lair', 'rent', 'near', but none of them seemed to do anything. And then finally something happened. He had arraigned three letters together and had just put an E on the end, when suddenly the four tables began to glow bright gold. They fused together, creating one single tablet, with four English letters one them spelling out one English word.

 **'** **LIFE'**

"Life?" Joe muttered. "What does mean, though?" In the context of the situation, and what he was trying to do, that could mean anything. But what he knew for certain is that it meant he had less numbers to mess around with to figure out the answer. Now he only had two lines of letters. The remaining symbols were ' T'. Joe started to mess around with them again, and before long he had his second word found. The five tablets meshed together and formed one single tablet with a five letter word on it.

 **'** **EARTH'**

"Only one left." Joe said, glad this was nearly over. He had only six letter left. This one was no trouble to figure out. It took him barely a second. Joe arranged the letters, and finally the first word was formed.

 **'** **AWAKEN'**

The tablets in front of him, their words glowing bright. And then suddenly something started to happen. The letters suddenly began to glow purple. And from the something began to form. Joe stepped back in surprise. As he watched the very letters themselves were ripped from the stone, forming shaped in the air in front of them. Single eyes grew out from the text, staring blankly into the space ahead of them, not fully conscious yet. The letters gained life, as if somehow god himself have given literature a very mind of its own. These were the same symbols he had seen on the walls. These things were Unown. The unown stared at him, floating in their lines above the air and reading out the words in their bodies formed together for all to see. 'LIFE. EARTH. AWAKEN.' And then the Unown got to work. They flew towards the pyramid, their eyes glowing pink with psychic energy. One by one each letter blasted the stone with their psychic power, in that same order, 'LIFE. EARTH. AWAKEN'. And when they were done, they vanished again, popping out of existence like tiny bubble in a massive bath. All that was left was the outline of their bodies burned into the massive door. And once that had faded away there was finally silence. Everyone looked at each other, partially confused. The only person who didn't seem even slightly confused was Archer. He stared at the pyramid doors unblinking, hardly seeming to breathe at all, his entire body focused upon the structure ahead of him.

"Is that is?" Joe asked, unsure if he'd done it right. He quickly got his answer. Seconds later the ground suddenly began to rumble. The rumbling got slowly louder and louder until it was deafening. The young trainers, and quite a few of the grunts, covered their ears as the sound penetrated their brains like an arrow through a sheet of paper. And then suddenly it stop, as the cause seemed to reach the pyramid itself. And then, to everyone's horrified surprise, the two massive rock doors began to slide open.

Archer laughed manically. "We've done it!" He roared. "He is awakened!" He turned and smiled at Joe. "Well done boy!" He cheered. Joe just stared at the pyramid in amazement. The doors were opening by themselves. Nothing was moving them. It took almost a minute for them to properly open all the way. But finally the doors were gone from sight completely, retracting into the sides of the wall. All that was left was a blackness in the hole behind where the doors had been. Joe waited for something to walk straight out through those doors and kill them all. Probably some kind of ancient dragon that breathed both fire and ice and was very, very hungry. But instead something else happened. The blackness literally stopped existing suddenly, and was replaced by something circular and white, with a large black pupil. Joe, Winter, Danning, Crystal, and most of the grunts, gasped in horror. An eye the size of a planet was sitting just behind the doorway, staring straight forwards. Its gaze fell on Joe, who was at the very centre of its peripheral vision. The boy was frozen to the spot, stunned by what he was seeing. It hadn't been a door. It was an eye. A massive eye with a red iris and a furious stare. The doors suddenly slammed shut and open again within the span of a second, creating a loud slamming sound as they hit each other. They weren't doors, Joe quickly realised. They're eyelids. The thing was blinking.

"What have you done?" Danning gasped. "Archer, what the fuck have you done!"

Archer just continued to cackle insanely, not giving half a crap about why Danning was furious with him. His job was done. "After thousands of years, he is finally awake again!" He roared. "He is mine to control! The Great Destroyer! The Titan!"

"The Great Destroyer." Joe whispered. His father had been right. If only he had tried to believe him. It had sounded too stupid to comprehend, but now he was the one that felt stupid.

The pyramid suddenly began to shake. The ground around the base began to crack and fall away in an abyss underneath. And slowly the structure began to move upwards. The eye pointed to the roof, as the tip of the 3D triangular shape touched the rock above. There was no neck under the pyramid. Only massive rock shoulder. A huge rock arm, the length of the Mississippi river, rose out from the abyss and grabbed the floor in front of it, hauling itself upwards. Another arm appeared on the other side of its body, but instead of having a hand this arm was gifted with a massive hammer, the kind of which even Thor would be jealous off. It's flat side struck the ground, causing it to literally shatter and fall away. The crack spread up to the pillar in front of Joe, and he had to dash backwards quickly before it fell away under him. He stared as the roof cracked, and the titan was free again, free to destroy whatever it wanted. And no one could stop it. What had he done?

Archer was still cackling. "Arise, great titan!" He roared, holding his hands to the air. His commanders and grunts joined in with his ritualistic movements. "Arise Great Destroyer! Arise monster born of the earth!" He threw his head back. "Arise Terranius!"

* * *

 **And now the war begins...**


	33. Chapter 33: Acceptance

The first thing that happened was the ground began to move. Silver nearly fell over, as the quakes reached the city and shook the buildings.

"What's happening?" Ruby cried over the sound of the moving earth. Team Ace's natural reaction in this situation was to grab onto the nearest solid object, in this case each other, and hold on for dear life.

"I don't know." Walker called over the earthly ruckus.

"Some kind of earthquake?" Silver suggested.

"No." Walker told him. "No, this is different." The people around them were beginning to panic. A few of the younger trainers had sped inside the nearest buildings for safety. The police had taken immediate action in trying to calm everyone down.

"Don't panic!" The police captain called through his megaphone. "Don't panic! It's only a small quake!"

And then something else happened. The quaking didn't stop. In fact it got worse. And then there was something else. A new sound. The sound of rock moving, scraping against more rock. This new sound echoed out across the land like the soundwaves of a storm. It was as if someone was moving a very large stone statue across a gravel path. And it was coming from the same direction as the quaking. The five of them looked to the distance.

"What's that sound?" Frank asked, sounding slightly terrified.

"Probably something not very good." Ross told him, his own voice shaking a little. The trembling continued, as it only got louder and louder. Croconaw cuddled up close to Silver in fear. He patted his pokémon's head comfortingly. The rest of his team also looked rather scared, but they were doing their best to stay brave. Team Ace's pokémon weren't doing a very good job at this. Half of them had scattered the second the earth began to move, the other half had curled up into small defensive balls. The only one who hadn't moved was Ursula, and that's because she had no idea what fear was. To Silver's surprise Walker's pokémon also seemed very calm. They were certainly on edge about what was happening, but they at least weren't showing their fear. They weren't letting it get to them. But the ground was still moving, and it didn't seem close to stopping.

And then, in the distance, the earth exploded upwards. A cloud of rock and mud flew into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud of dirt above the ground. Everyone froze. Everyone stared. Everyone stopped breathing. The cloud remained in the air for a few seconds, and then dropped again, falling like black rain to the earth. There was a horrified gasp from the watching crowd. There was another groan of creaking rock. And then something began to rise. From the cloud of dirt a point appeared. And from that pointed followed a large pyramid, with a single massive eye.

A chorus of screams went around, not only from the women but also the men. Everyone stared in horror as the titan rose up from the ground, its massive eye staring at their city. Even the police had no idea what to do. Everyone began to panic.

"What the hell is that?" Silver cried, fear striking him in a way it never had done before.

Walker stared at the monster in the distance. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Archer had really done it this time. He'd unleashed upon the world a creation that should have remained forgotten. "That…" He said slowly. "Is very bad news."

* * *

The titan of rock and earth rose up from its pit and struck sunlight for the first time in thousands of years. Its massive eye turned to the bright day sun. The air rubbed against its stone skin. Using its one hand to aid it, it pulled itself up out of the hole and stood up above the earth, free to roam and destroy one again.

Joe looked up in horror. What had he done? He had freed this thing, and now it was going to destroy everything in its path, starting off with the Goldenrod city. And it was all because of him. If he hadn't rushed to save Winter, if he hadn't gotten caught, if he hadn't done as Archer had asked then this wouldn't have happened. They'd needed him, and he'd fallen straight into their trap. He felt like such an idiot.

Archer finally stopped laughing insanely. He had been doing so for the last few minutes, ever since Joe had freed Terranius. And now he'd finally stopped. He coughed a little, then turned to his men.

"Put him back with the others." He instructed. They nodded. Two of the grunts walked over and grabbed Joe by the shoulders, dragging him back to Winter and Danning, who was standing mouths open. Joe didn't resist. The grunts hauled him along and dropped him beside his companions, letting him fall weakly on his knees. Archer strolled in front of him with the air of a smug business man who had just succeeded in taking his boss's job. "I thank you for what you have done for us, boy." He said smugly, his mask hiding his grin. "Without you we could have never succeeded in doing what we have today." Joe coughed.

"Alright, Archer." He muttered. "You got what you wanted. Now what?" Archer crossed his arms.

"Now we will attack Goldenrod." He explained simply. "The will level the city, and then move on to the next one and the next after that. We shall keep going till nothing is left, and then we shall start anew."

"Why would you want that?" Winter asked. "Why do you want to destroy humanity?" Archer turned on her.

"Humanity has done nothing for me." He snapped. "All humanity ever did for me was make me feel like an outcast, like a freak, like something that shouldn't exist. Why would I not want it gone?" He turned around.

"So why are you telling us this?" Joe asked. Archer turned on him.

"Because I want you to understand just why I'm doing this. I want you to understand my pain." He told them. "And after all, it's not like you're going to tell anyone." He turned to his commanders. "Line them up." He instructed. "Then have them killed."

"You can't do this!" Winter cried, kicking as she tried to break free of the commander's grip.

"Archer, you'll be made to pay for this!" Danning yelled at him. Archer ignored them both. The three commanders shoved the three prisoners into a single, dumping Ralph beside them still in his netting. Joe didn't make any attempt to fight back. He seemed to have accepted his fate. Archer reached into his cloaked pocket and pulled out a thin barrelled pistol. He cocked it and pointed it towards Joe's head.

"I'm sorry I have to put you down this way, boy." He said, barely apologetically. "I would have preferred to do so in a more noble and satisfying way. But I don't have time to do that anymore, and I need you gone for good." He aimed the gun. "You know how it is." He smiled slightly. "Time to die." He cackled.

For Joe time seemed to freeze in place. At first he assumed this was because he was about to die. Any second now Archer would pull the trigger, and then he'd stop existing. He closed his eyes, expecting any second to hear a loud explosion of gunpowder in his ear. But instead he heard something else. A voice he hadn't been expecting to hear that day. It wasn't just speaking to him though. It seemed to echo around the entire room. Everyone heard it.

 _"_ _Not today!"_ It said defiantly, as if it was responding to what Archer had just said. Joe opened his eyes again. He could see a pink light gathering around his body. He stood, looking confused, before turning to Winter. She was also surrounded by the same light. As was Danning, and Ralph too. Before Joe could even question what was happening, the light flashed bright pink. And then they were gone. Archer didn't even get a chance to fire his gun. His arm lowered, his mouth opening in shock under his mask. A low groan escaped from it, which quickly grew into a furious roar.

"No!" He screamed. "NO!" He threw the gun onto the ground, where thankfully it didn't go off. "DAMN IT!" He yelled to the heavens. "GOD DAMN IT!"

* * *

Reality rippled like a stagnant swimming pool. Joe felt himself rematerializing. The effect it had on him was like being sick in reverse. His whole body wanted to completely split apart and float away in a cloud of atoms. Thankfully for him it didn't do this, but it felt like it came pretty close to doing so. When his body regained the ability to feel he found himself lying on a worryingly comfortable floor. Small blades of plant life brushed against his arms. It didn't take him long to realise he was lying on grass. And not just grass. He could feel someone else's leg prodding him in the back. He groaned slowly, trying to get a grip on what exactly was going on. And then a voice spoke up again.

 _"_ _I am sorry about that."_ It said apologetically. _"I would have warmed up a little before acting, but you didn't have any time left."_ Joe opened his eyes. He was lying in a grass clearing. There were trees around the edge of the verdant circle. And he was lying in a pile. His head was resting on Danning's shoulder, Ralph's wing was grabbing his foot, and Winter's knee was sticking into his spine. He groaned.

"Everyone okay?" He asked.

The rest of the group gave a grunted 'yeah'. They quickly got to their feet, only to look around in confusion.

"I know this is an obvious question…" Winter spoke up. "But where exactly are we?"

"I thought the more obvious question was how did we get here?" Danning suggested.

 _'_ _You are in the planes of serenity.'_ The voice suddenly said, speaking not in their heads but in their ears, aloud so all of them could hear. _'You were teleported here by me. And both those questions are obvious.'_ The four of them looked at each other.

"Who are you?" Winter asked. "Who's speaking to us?"

 _'_ _That is also an obvious question.'_ The voice told her. Joe held a hand out.

"It's alright, Winter." He stated simply. "I recognise this voice."

 _'_ _As you should'_ the voice agreed. There was a sudden quiet and weirdly relaxing pop as something small, pink and rabbit like appeared in the air in front of them. It floated in front of them, smiling with its big round eyes, its long tail flicking behind its back.

Joe smiled as he saw the recognisable face of a pokémon he had met once before. "Mew?" He asked. Mew nodded.

 _'_ _It's good to finally meet you in person.'_ It said welcomingly. _'I just wish this could have been at a better time.'_

Winter glanced in Joe's direction. "Is this the pokémon that was giving you the visions back in Kanto?" She asked. Joe nodded.

"Yeah, that's it." He told her. "This is Mew."

"Croooo." Ralph muttered, slightly surprised.

Mew chuckled to itself. _'Your Crobat is surprised I exist.'_ It explained. _'Apparently he thought you were just dreaming it up.'_ Joe smiled and patted Ralph on the head like he was a dog.

"Thanks for believing me, buddy." Joe said sarcastically but with a light-hearted tone. Ralph rolled his eyes.

"I thought Archer was speaking madness when he said you'd been helped by a legendary." Danning muttered. Joe looked at the Rocket Grunt who was stuck with them. "But I guess I was wrong." He quickly corrected himself.

 _'_ _As much as I would love to keep talking like this…'_ Mew interrupted. _'I'm afraid that we no longer have any time left. As you saw Archer has released Terranius, the ancient titan under Johto. Now that it is awake there will be no way anyone can stop it from destroying all in its path.'_

"So we're screwed then?" Joe said hopelessly. "And I guess I'm to blame for it."

"Joe." Winter said, looking sadly at him. "You didn't really have a choice." She reminded him.

"I could have still refused to do it." He muttered, speaking cruelly of himself.

 _'_ _I fear you have misunderstood my comment.'_ Mew said suddenly. _'I said that there is no way anyone could stop it. But I did not say that it is indestructible. There is still one who may be able to destroy it.'_ The three humans and one crobat froze and looked at the deity.

"Who?" Joe asked simply. "And how."

Mew's tail flicked over its shoulders. _'I'll take you to see him.'_ He said. _'But first your friends should be taken to safety.'_

"Won't they be safe here?" Joe asked.

 _'_ _No.'_ Mew said simply. _'Where we're going you'll need to be alone. It's okay. Celebi can teleport them down to a safe area of Goldenrod City.'_

"Celebi?" Danning asked in confusion. As soon as he said the name another pink spiral of energy formed and pushed out a new life into the world through its glittering glowing gleam. The new pokémon was most definitely a legendary pokémon. It was too unique to be a random passing by psychic type.

 _'_ _Someone called?'_ Celebi asked in a weirdly cheerful tone that sounded almost sarcastic.

 _'_ _Nice to see you're finally here.'_ Mew said to its companion legendary pokémon. Celebi bowed back, nearly summersaulting as it hovered in the air.

 _'_ _Mew, the Rockets have awoken the titan!'_ Celebi exclaimed in a more serious tone this time.

 _'_ _I know.'_ Mew told it. It glanced at Joe. Celebi finally noticed the humans watching it, and Ralph who was still looking rather confused by all this.

 _'_ _And this is the boy you've been helping to fight them?'_ It asked.

 _'_ _Yes.'_ Mew told it. _'He can stop Archer.'_

"I hope I can." Joe interrupted quickly, not too sure in himself. He hadn't beaten Archer the first time Mew said he could. What made this time any different.

 _'_ _You should take him to see Meian.'_ Celebi said.

 _'_ _We will.'_ Mew told it. _'But first I need you to do something quickly.'_

Celebi sighed. _'Okay.'_ It groaned. _'But only if it is quick.'_

 _'_ _It is.'_ Mew said honestly.

"Who's Meian?" Joe interrupted. He recognised the name. He had heard these two pokémon say it before. When he was unconscious he'd heard their argument inside his head. The two legendries turned and looked at him.

 _'_ _Meian is a friend of ours.'_ Mew told him simply. ' _But don't worry about it now. You'll meet him soon.'_ It turned back to Celebi. _'Celebi, my dear, would you please deliver Joe's two friends here down to Goldenrod city where they'll be safe.'_ It asked.

"Now hold on." Winter interrupted suddenly. "I think we should stay here. We can help more if we're able to figure out how to stop that giant thing then we can fighting a few grunts on the ground."

Mew smiled at her. _'As brave as you are for saying that, I'm afraid that your friend here must come alone.'_ It explained. _'I am sorry.'_

"Okay." Winter sighed. She was smart enough to know not to argue with a god, even one as small and, secretly quite adorable, as Mew.

"What about Ralph?" Joe asked him.

"Cro?" Ralph asked in agreement. Mew chuckled.

 _'_ _You can keep him with you.'_ Mew told them happily. _'After all, neither of you would have ever got this far if it weren't for the other.'_ Joe and Ralph smiled at each other.

 _'_ _We should hurry up.'_ Celebi ushered. _'We don't have long. Terranius will be nearing the city by now.'_

"Then we'll need to go with you now?" Winter asked sadly. Celebi nodded. "Could I just have a quick second?" Winter asked.

Mew nodded. _'Of course.'_ It said kindly.

Winter walked up in front of Joe, a small encouraging smile on her face. "Be careful, okay." She told him, almost like a mother. "I don't want you coming back in ten pieces."

"I'm always careful." Joe joked.

"No you aren't." Winter joked back. They smiled at each other. She reached out her arms and hugged her friend, her sleeves wrapping around his shoulders and neck. "For god's sake don't get yourself killed." She whispered concernedly.

"I haven't so far." Joe whispered back. They let go of each other, and Winter took a few steps back. "You be safe, too." Joe told her kindly. "Don't let those bastards do any harm to anyone." Winter smiled.

"I won't." She called.

"Good luck, kid." Danning said, as he joined Winter over by Celebi.

 _'_ _We're ready to go.'_ Celebi announced.

"Good." Mew said.

"See you on the other side, Joe!" Winter called. And then with a flash of pink she was gone.

"See you on the other side." Joe called back.

There was a short quiet as Joe and Ralph stood beside each other, looking at where their friend had been a few seconds ago. Joe only hoped that she would stay safe. He knew she would never be safe, but at least safe enough to stay out of mortal danger if possible. Mew floated over beside them.

 _'_ _We should go.'_ It said. _'Meian is waiting.'_

"Where is he?" Joe asked the legendary.

 _'_ _At the temple.'_ Mew explained. _'I'll take you there.'_

* * *

The pink flash faded and Winter was again standing in the streets of Goldenrod City. She heard Danning groan beside her as he tried to recover from the teleportation. It was always a head banging experience, having your atoms moved from one place to another in the span of a few seconds. But somehow she always came out alive from it. She stood up and regained her composure. They were just down the street from the gym, which meant they were in the northern part of the city.

"You okay, Danning?" She asked, reaching a hand down to the Ex-Rocket grunt. Danning grumbled.

"Why do they have to do that?" He asked. "My head was still shaking from the first one."

"It'll probably ware of soon." Winter told him hopefully. The grunt got to his feet.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"We're in Goldenrod City." Winter told him simply. Danning looked around.

"You're right." He realised, sounding slightly surprised. "So that little plant thing wasn't lying then." Winter looked at him.

"You were expecting it to?" She asked curiously. Danning shrugged. She decided not to follow up that question. Instead she chose to be thankful that they were on solid ground again, above the surface. Archer had decided to kill them down in the ruins. She should be grateful that they'd been taken away from there before he could.

All of a sudden there was a massive rumble, and a sudden quake, followed by a heavy yet distant rock scrapping sound.

"What on earth was that?" Winter exclaimed, covering her ears with the pain. Their eyes turned to the horizon. The Great Destroyer had just broken from its earth prison, and was now walking towards the city. Only now that she'd seen it walking towards here did Winter truly see just how majestic and how terrifying this thing was. Its entire body was made of tough bedrock, right down from the tip of its pyramid head to the shoes of its two massive hooved feet. Every inch of that bedrock was covered in unown symbols, which from the distance looked only like black ink lines. Its one massive eye swivelled around in its triangular socket as it scanned over the city, looking for the biggest targets to destroy. And the biggest target it had found was the city of Goldenrod. Winter had just realised she could people screaming and panicking further up the city, as the titan drew closer.

"God damn them!" Danning cursed. "That thing will destroy this whole place in seconds. We don't stand a chance."

A crowd of people suddenly rushed past, heading for the north gate. Behind them an even larger crowd of caught pokémon followed. They seemed to a defence force, a group of trainers and policemen that had decided to stay behind and form up in order to defend the city as best they could. Though defending it from an ancient giant that no one had ever seen before was not exactly an easy task. They began hauling objects, mostly wooden ones like benches and chairs, up to the gate in an attempt to make a barricade. Winter admired it a little. When people were in trouble they would start to work together. It gave her a small amount of hope. And then someone with deep red hair ran past, and she froze.

"Silver!" She called out. The boy stopped and glanced back.

"Winter?" He called in confusion.

"What's going on?" She asked. Silver's face grew a sudden happy smile.

"It is you!" He realised. He rushed over to great her, Croconaw following behind him. "You're okay." He said.

"I'm fine." She told him.

"Joe found you then?" He asked.

"Yes." She told him.

"And where is that fool?" Silver asked.

"He's…" Winter paused. "...not here right now." She said. She would have told Silver where he was and what he was doing if she'd actually known for herself. As it was she hadn't been told anything about it. Silver nodded.

"Right." He glanced at Danning. "Why are you with a grunt?" He asked.

"He's with me." Winter told him quickly. "He quit Team Rocket. He's a good guy."

"Okay." Silver said, looking slightly surprised. "So did Joe talk to you at all?" He asked, winking slightly. Winter crossed her arms.

"Yes, he did." She told him slowly.

"Ah, good lad." Silver cheered. "So he was brave enough to do it."

"Could I ask you to do something really important for me, Silver?" Winter asked suddenly.

"Sure." Silver said, not picking up on her threatening vibes. She took a step closer, looking rather cross.

"In future, stay out of our personal lives." She told him spitefully. "And don't bully someone for having human emotions." Silver was looking surprised.

"He told you I told him to do it?" He asked.

"Would you like me to poke fun at you and Crystal's relationship?" She asked. Silver seemed to get the message.

"Gees, I'm sorry." He muttered. "I didn't know you thought so strongly on this."

"Wait a second." Danning interrupted. He was staring at Silver in amazement. "Crystal has a boyfriend?" The two trainers looked back at him.

"Not technically." Silver told him. "We never made it official."

"You know it's because of you she was beaten up, right." Danning told him.

Silver's face dropped. "Now I just feel bad." He muttered.

Suddenly Team Ace ran by, their army of pokémon following after them. Frank spotted the group standing to the side of the street and called out to them.

"Come on, you lazy asses!" He shouted, waving a gelatinous hand. "The Rockets are attacking from the north! Help us fight them off!" Then he ran off after his team.

"Was that Frank?" Winter asked.

"Yep." Silver said.

"Of Team Ace." Winter continued.

"Yep." Silver said.

"What are they doing here?" She asked

"They're helping us defend the city." Silver told her. "They volunteered."

"That's news I wasn't ever expecting to hear." She muttered. "Team Ace volunteered to help someone. What miracle will happen next?"

"Shouldn't we be trying to help them?" Danning suggested. They looked at him.

"Good point." Silver realised. Without another word the three of them rushed of after the hoard of people, as Team Rocket's army began its attack on the city.

* * *

Mew lead Joe and Ralph out of the glade and up to a long pair of carved stone steps. They traversed up them with haste. It didn't take them long to get to the top. And when they did the human and his crobat companion found themselves standing at the gate of a massive stone temple. The ancient building looked older than the earth itself. Its pillars were eroded but still standing strong, and its massive rock roof balanced on top of thick brick walls that were dyed grey with age.

"So this is the temple your friend is waiting at?" Joe said as he finished climbing the steps.

 _"_ _Yes."_ Mew said simply. _"Meian should be here any second."_

"It didn't take us long to get here." Joe noted. In fact you could have just teleported us here in the first place, it wouldn't have mattered."

 _"_ _True."_ Mew agreed. _"But your friends weren't supposed to see this place. So I waited till they were gone to deal with that."_

"Guess that makes sense." Joe muttered.

 _"_ _This is a personal universe, Joseph Glende."_ Mew told him in an educational tone. _"A secondary universe to the one we usually inhabit. Here we can put anything where we want it to be."_

Joe was surprised. He hadn't been expecting to learn about universal and legendary laws today, yet Mew seemed to have found a good time to fit them in.

"Will they be safe in the city?" He asked suddenly. "My friends, I mean."

Mew looked him and gave him a look of honesty through large eyes. _"No."_ It said. _"No, they won't be safe. But they will be safer."_

"I don't think I understand." Joe said, puzzled.

"You'll find out soon enough." Mew told him. There was a fuzzy washing sound emanating from a few feet in front of them now. "Ah." Mew exclaimed with delight. "He's here at last."

The air before them flashed pink, and a form appeared. This new pokémon was evidently not a legendary, even Joe could tell that. He could tell this because he had seen this pokémon before, many times. His friend Tom had kept one for a while before it evolved, twice. In fact it was a pretty common pokémon to see, in Kanto at least. He hadn't seen many in Johto. The pokémon floating before him was none other than a small yellow abra. Its tail flapped slowly behind it. Its two closed slit eyes never opened. Its two arms and legs crossed each other as it sat in a yoga pose above the floor. In fact the only obvious thing that made it different to other abra was that it was a shiny pokémon. Its skin was a lighter shade of yellow then most abra usually had. Joe suddenly realised that it hadn't even said a word to him yet and already he was disappointed by it.

"This is the pokémon that's going to help us?" Joe asked, sounding dissatisfied.

Mew said nothing. There was a second of silence, and then Joe found himself taken by surprise. The abra spoke back.

"Your disappointment upsets me." It said simply, in the genuine voice of an emotionless child. "Though I am also not surprised by this."

Joe looked a little embarrassed now. "I-I'm sorry." He muttered. "I didn't know you could talk."

 _"_ _This too does not surprise me."_ Meian said. _"And I'm not talking. I'm reading."_

Joe looked confused. He was about to ask a question, when Mew answered in for him.

 _"_ _Reading is what he calls talking psychically."_ It explained. _"Thoughts are like words in a book. You don't say them, you make them jump from the page into words you understand. Thoughts don't speak, they become, the same way ink on paper becomes an image in your head."_

 _"_ _And I can read thoughts"_ Meian continued for him. "I don't hear them. There's nothing to hear. Thoughts are their own sense. They aren't words. They're images, letters, scents, ideas. They're a jumble of perceptions when you get down to it. They're anything but spoken words."

Joe nodded with interest. He had never even thought about it before. When he thought of something he always saw images of it, or remembered things being said. He never heard his head say an idea. He just knew it suddenly.

"And that's how you're talking?" Joe asked. "You and Mew are doing this reading thing?"

 _"_ _Exactly."_ Meian said.

"Might take me a while to get my head around this idea." Joe warned them.

 _"_ _I wouldn't worry about it."_ Meian told him. _"We have bigger things to worry about. Like Team Rocket."_ Meian glanced at Mew. _"I hear they released the giant from its prison."_ He said.

Mew looked a little embarrassed. _"I'm sorry about that."_ Mew said sheepishly. _"It's my fault."_

"You're fault?" Joe asked, confused. "Archer made me free it. You weren't even involved."

 _"_ _It's because I've been contacting you that you were even able to open those doors."_ Mew told him. _"They won't open if the unown don't unlock them. And the unown won't unlock them if they don't sense the power of a legendary. And sadly being in contact with a legendary pokémon, even for a second, leaves an energy trace, one large enough for the unown to detect."_ Mew blushed. _"So yeah, I didn't think ahead on that one."_ It chuckled embarrassedly.

 _"_ _There will be time to regret when this is done, Mew."_ Meian interrupted. _"It is time we went through with the plan. Is the boy ready?"_

 _"_ _I believe so."_ Mew told the abra child. _"He's got this far, and been though everything else. He's the strongest candidate we've ever had. He has to be ready for this."_

"Ready?" Joe repeated, confused. "Candidate? What are you talking about?" Mew gave Joe an apologetic glance.

 _"_ _You are not the first human Mew has tried to help win this fight."_ Meian explained without any consideration for respect, forethought or human emotion. _"There were nine before you, all of who failed to do what you are about to do. You are number ten in the list, and there are others after if you should fail."_

Joe looked rather horrified. "What?" Was the only thing he was able to say after hearing this news.

 _"_ _Nice going, Meian."_ Mew muttered annoyed. _"Now you've scared him right when we need him. I tell you not to do this every time, it doesn't help them, but you still do it anyway. For Lord Arceus's sake!"_ Meian gave Mew a rivalling glance back.

"So you two have had more trainers fight Team Rocket before me?" He asked.

Mew sighed. "Yes." He said sadly. "All of them failed to win. Most of them didn't even get this far, and the rest failed here. None of them made it to the big fight."

"What did you do with them when they lost?" Joe asked, worried for his life.

Mew gave him a disarming smile. _"We didn't do anything like that."_ It said quickly. _"We just reverse time so it never happened and search for another stronger trainer to make our hero. That's how we found you."_ Mew smiled at Joe. _"You'll be different to them."_ It said strongly. _"You're stronger than they were. You will win. You and Ralph."_

Joe glanced at his crobat companion, who was pulling a face of absolute horror at what he'd just heard. Joe had to admit he agreed with him fully. He only wished he could pull a face that horrified. Joe gulped, then coughed.

"I'll, uh, I'll try not to mess up." He said in an attempt to be confident. He wasn't doing it too well. Mew smiled back.

 _"_ _That's good."_ It said happily. _"And you won't mess up, hero."_ It said encouragingly.

"Now, if we could, we need to get on with the test." Meian interrupted. Mew nodded and backed up.

 _"_ _Yes, of course."_ It said, floating backwards as if to leave. _"I'll let you get on with it then."_

 _"_ _Thank you, Mew."_ Meian said.

 _"_ _I'll be watching the fight, hero."_ Mew called, winking at Joe. _"Kick Team Rocket's ass for us!"_ And then Mew popped out of existence.

Meian levitated a little closer to the boy. _"So, you are Mew's hero?"_ He asked.

"Yes." Joe said simply. The abra seemed to eye him up and down, with eyes that didn't open.

 _"_ _You seem to fit the bill."_ It judged. _"You know my name, and I know yours. But who's your friend?"_ It asked.

"This is Ralph." Joe said, pointing his palm to his large purple bat friend. Ralph cro-d a hello back. Meian nodded at him.

 _"_ _He looks strong."_ He said in an attempted kind tone. _"He will do well fighting beside you."_

"Uh, thank you?" Joe said, not to sure how to respond to that comment. It had been rather emotionless and serious.

 _"_ _But, as Mew said, we should get to the test."_ Meian said suddenly, as if halfway through a thought.

"What test?" Joe asked.

 _"_ _Your test."_ Meian told him. _"Arceus's test for you, to see if you are a good enough trainer to defeat Archer."_

"How do you test that?" Joe asked.

 _"_ _There is only one way."_ Meian told him simply. _"But you will see soon enough."_

"Okay?" Joe and Ralph walked with Meian, taking the path into the temple. "So what is an abra doing in a place like this?" Joe asked suddenly. The abra deity didn't stop walking.

 _"_ _I am guarded with the protection of this place."_ Meian told him.

"Protecting it how?" Joe asked. "And with what."

 _"_ _You misunderstand."_ Meian told him. _"I don't protect things. I protect knowledge. This is a temple of knowledge."_ He explained. _"I know everything about our planet. Everything that has ever happened on it, everything that will ever happen on it. I am tasked with making sure that all of this information is stored in the temple, and that the temple remains running."_ Meian glanced at Joe. _"Think of it as one massive brain. A brain that's only focus is on memory, and nothing else. Everything that ever happens and will happen is absorbed by this place's existence and kept for all time. Nothing is ever lost."_

Joe nodded his head and glanced up at the dull bricks that formed a building in front of him. "Interesting." He muttered.

"Cro?" Ralph said.

 _"_ _Your crobat just asked how I got my name."_ Meian told him.

"So what does it mean?" Joe asked him. Meian was silent for a second, as if he was taking in an inaudible breath.

 _"_ _Meian is the Japanese word for 'Light and Darkness'."_ Meian explained. _"I must keep the knowledge of both, and sort through them. I see both good and evil every day. It was only fitting that I give myself that name."_

"And so it's just you up here?" Joe asked.

 _"_ _Always."_ Meian told him.

"Did you not ever live down on the earth?" Joe asked.

 _"_ _No."_ Meian said.

"Surely you must have at some point." Joe told him. "Maybe you don't remember, because you were too young. You can't have been born up here."

 _"_ _Young hero, I was created by Arceus and placed here at the beginning of time. I have been here before the species Abra even came into being. I chose to take this form eons ago, purely because I found it fitting. A small weak bodied psychic sage in a great stone fortress of the mind. Like something from a great myth."_ Meian explained.

"I've never heard any myths on this place." Joe told him.

 _"_ _And that is because it is best left hidden."_ Meian told him. "But enough talk." He interrupted, floating towards the large rock doorway. _"It is time we went ahead with the test."_ They walked inside.

"What kind of test is this going to be?" Joe asked him curiously.

 _"_ _It's a mental test."_ Meian explained. _"You must go inside, and come back out a stronger person, your demons defeated."_

Joe gulped. That sounded pretty tough. "What can I expect to face in there?" He asked.

 _"_ _Expect to see what you dread the most."_ Meian told him. _"That's usually what people end up seeing."_

Joe was starting to feel this may be a bad idea. But he didn't have a choice. He was already here, and Team Rocket were already attacking. He had to do this, just so he knew he could stop them.

 _"_ _You're not allowed to take Ralph in with you."_ Meian said suddenly. Joe looked surprised.

"What? Why not?" Joe asked.

"Cro?" Ralph agreed.

 _"_ _Because this is a trial you must overcome without help."_ Meian explained. _"You must take this challenge alone."_

Joe sighed. "Alright." He accepted, seeming to understand.

Meian nodded. _"We will be waiting out here for you."_ He said. _"Good luck, hero."_

Joe turned away from the two of them, noticing Ralph's look of worry as he did so. His companion was nervous. He was about to do something that was most likely very tough, considering that several others before him had all failed at this point. But he had to be brave now. He had to do this. If he didn't then it was his friend who were going to get hurt. Terranius wouldn't stop. It would never stop. Apparently it was only him now who could make it stop, and if he failed that would never happen. So Joe had already made his choice. He was going to be brave. He was going to face whatever was awaiting him inside the temple. And he was going to face it by himself. He stepped into the darkness ahead.

* * *

"They'll be here any second." One terrified trainer yelled.

"We won't be able to hold back so many." Another joined in.

Winter and Silver took a few steps back. They and the other trainers had just finished setting up a flimsy barricade at the north gate of the city. They hoped it would hold out the attackers for a while, long enough to take some of them down. But the mass of now approaching Lorries full to the brim with Rocket Grunts were starting to make them doubt its strength.

"Do you think it'll hold?" Winter asked.

"It'll hold!" Silver told her with fake confidence.

"But it won't do so forever." Danning told them. "We'll need to be ready to fight."

"Where's Walker?" Ruby asked, seeming rather worried.

"Yeah, wasn't he supposed to be helping us?" Ross agreed.

"Walker's here?" Winter asked, sounding surprised. "When did he arrive?"

"This morning." Silver told her. "He turned up and offered to help us fight the rockets. Sorry, I forgot to mention it earlier." He added the last bit after seeing her expression. She wasn't too happy she hadn't been told. Her best friend's uncle was here to help. That was a very good thing. She'd seen Walker fight before. He was practically a champion pokémon battler.

"So where is this guy you're waiting for?" Danning asked confused.

Something large, red and fiery sped past and pounced onto the top of the barricade. Everyone jumped in surprise. A large male arcanine with a flowing mane was standing at the top of the wooden fortification, glancing menacingly into the distance. It growled, the howled at the approaching vehicles in the distance, as if it were a lion trying to frighten of predators.

"Arco, are they attacking yet?" A sudden voice called. They all turned around. Walker was standing a few metres behind them, the rest of his pokémon following behind him. The arcanine turned back and nodded. Walker's face became stern and commanding. "Right." He said. "Get ready everyone, they're going to attack soon."

"Mr Glende." Winter cried, waving a hand to get Walker's attention. He spotted her beside the others and smiled.

"Winter?" He called back with amazement. "You're okay too."

"I'm fine." She told him as he approached.

"Where's my nephew?" He asked suddenly, realising Joe wasn't present.

"Uh, he's, us…" Winter wasn't too sure what to tell him. "I'm sure he'll be along soon enough." She eventually managed to say. Walker nodded.

"Right." He said. "Are you ready to fight? Team Rocket will be here any minute, and I don't want you to get hurt during this."

Winter looked down at her belt, spotting the team she had attached to it. "I'm not sure." She muttered.

"Do you have any pokémon that need evolving?" Walker asked. "Cos if you do we'd best get that done now."

"Yes." Winter realised. "I do." She unclipped one of her pokeballs and released it. Staryu appeared out of it. "You don't have a water stone do you?" She asked.

"As a matter of fact…" Walker announced, reaching into his bag and pulling out a thin shard of blue crystal. "I do." He finished, holding the shard out to Winter. "And I think it's about time we used it."

Ten seconds later and Winter had released Staryu from its pokeball and already evolved it. Now she had a fully grown, ten legged, purple skinned, hexagonal maroon crystal starfish at her side. Starmie rotated a few times, testing out its new body to see if it worked okay.

"Thank you." Winter said gratefully. "That should make it a bit tougher for the Rocket's to win."

"Do you have any other pokémon that need to evolve?" Walker asked. "I still have a few stones that'll allow that."

Winter shrugged. "I don't think so." She told him.

"No sea dragons or anything like that?" He asked surreptitiously. "Because I happen to have a dragon scale on me, and I believe you have a pokémon that can use that."

Winter seemed confused. "I don't understand." She told him.

Walker sighed. "I can evolve River even further if you'd like." He told her simply.

Winter was a little surprised. "You can do that?"

"Of course I can." He told her, holding up a small sharp pinkish scale. "Won't take me a second.

A minute later and the group of trainers were standing surrounding the barricade, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Winter and Danning had released their remaining pokémon to fight. Danning only had Lurk the golbat and Demon the houndour left, after Ariadne had been murdered by Archer. He was still rather upset about that. And as for Winter she had her whole team of six. Tailless and Eevee were staying close to her, mainly for protection. Mar meanwhile was standing on the barricade, preparing to blast a bubblebeam at any attackers. Zephyr was watching from above, acting not only like a warning alarm but also as an aerial assault if necessary. Lucky was checking up on all the younger trainers to make sure they would be okay. And as for Winter's newest evolutions, they were with the massive hoard of pokémon, waiting to attack back. Starmie moved from foot to pointed foot, waiting with anticipation. River meanwhile was standing royally on her curled tail, her long pointed snout aimed like a sniper barrel at her distant targets. She was no longer the small and aggressive seadra. Now she was a tall and powerful Kingdra, with the same regal strength as a monarch. Winter nodded to herself. This fight as winnable. They just had to be careful. Zephyr suddenly gave off a loud caw of warning.

"They're coming!" A young trainer yelled as he hurried down the barricade again to safety.

"This is it!" Walker yelled. "Stay close everyone, and hold them back."

Winter braced herself. This fight was going to get messy. The rocket grunts charged, until they were at the barricade. And then the fight truly began.

* * *

Joe strode through the darkness. He couldn't see an inch in front of him, and his eyes weren't adjusting to the lack of light. On top of that it was cold. This building was like stepping into a black hole. All sunlight and heat seemed to be eaten by it, rather than let through it. He felt quite alone. Without Ralph being beside him he felt truly alone for the first time in a long time. He had never truly been separated from him, apart from that one time a few days ago. Without him being there he started to realise just how afraid he felt. His heartbeat began to rise with panic and fear. But he was going to stay confident, for the sake of everything he knew he had to be strong.

"Alright Meian." He called. "I'm in here. Now what do I do?" There was no response. Joe glanced back. He could have sworn that the little psychic pokémon had come in here with him. But there was no sign of the abra anywhere in the dark. "Meian?" Joe called. Still nothing. He felt a shudder down his spine. He was beginning to feel that he'd been lead into a trap. "If this is a joke…" He started to say. Suddenly there was light. Joe covered his eyes, the bright glare blinding him. He shielded his seeing organs with his arm, the light slowly getting dimmer. It didn't take him long to adjust to the light. When he did he realised that the light wasn't actually illuminating anything. The only thing he could see now was the floor for ten metres around him, which was made of white stone, and himself. Everything else was still shrouded in darkness. No walls were close by for him to use as guidance. He was stuck at the centre of the room, standing in the light as the dark circled around him. "What's going on here?" He asked the room. The room didn't respond with words. Only the sinister atmosphere of an empty building. Joe was beginning to get annoyed by this. "Look, if this is supposed to be a test could we just get it underway." He asked. "Or at least tell me what it is…" There was a sudden faint buzzing sound. Joe froze. He knew that sound. He recognised it. It was the kind of buzz that a certain insect made when it flapped its wings. He slowly turned, only to be knocked onto his back by something fast and black. He struck the floor, wincing with surprise. He rolled over, but saw nothing around him. Whatever had attacked him had moved too fast to see. He looked around, ready to try and dodge another attempted attack. "Okay, this isn't fun in the slightest." He called "There's no need to attack me. Can't we just talk?"

Suddenly something in the darkness yelled back, screaming in response to his words. "There will be no talking!" It roared. Joe froze. That was his voice, he realised. His own voice had responded to him. He was literally talking to himself.

"Who are you?" He shouted at the dark. "Or what are you?"

"Be gone from this place!" It roared. "You are unwelcome here."

"I was told to come in here." Joe argued. "Meian told me I had to face a test."

The thing in the darkness laughed at him. "A test?" It spat. "As if you could ever win one of those! You always fail your tests." Joe's head was spinning with confusion. He had no idea what was going on anymore. He was talking to an angry apparition that had his voice. He'd never heard of such a thing. Was this even real?

"Look, I'm sorry I bothered you." Joe told it. "If you'd like I'll just leave again and let you be alone in here." There was a whoosh as something sped past him in a black blur. The light around him dimmed a little.

"You aren't going anywhere, Joseph Glende!" It yelled furiously. Joe spun on the spot, looking for what had spoken.

"How do you know my name?" He asked. The darkness laughed.

"I'd have thought you'd recognise your own pokémon when you saw it?" It told him. Joe's eyes grew in fear.

"What?" He asked, both confused and terrified. From the darkness a form suddenly appeared. It stepped out to the edge of the light in front of the trainer, the buzz of its wings growing louder as it approached. It stood at the circumference of the light, glaring at the human in its home. Joe gasped. "No." He muttered, horrified. "You can't be him!"

The thing cackled evilly. "But I am." It stated simply. It held its drill arms open. "It's me!" It announced loudly. "I am Sting!"

"Sting!" Joe gasped. He stared at the beedrill apparition before him. It hovered low above the ground, its drill arms open and its thin wings fluttering. Its insect eyes were red and glaring. "But… you died!" Joe tried to reason. "You can't be here!"

"But I am!" Sting roared. He pointed a stinger arm at Joe's chest. "You let me die!" It roared.

"No." Joe argued. "No, I didn't!" Team Rocket killed you! You tried to protect Ralph, and...!"

"You let me die!" Sting roared back, fury in its insectoid voice.

"I did my best!" Joe said sorrowfully. Sting threw its arms out.

"YOU DID NOTHING!" It screamed. Its drills span. Its wings buzzed. Its voice ripped the air around them open with its high pitch buzzing. "It's your fault I'm dead!" Sting continued, doing its best to torture its old trainer. "And you knew that!"

"You're not real!" Joe reasoned with himself. "You're just an illusion. The real Sting was my friend. He didn't hate me."

"I didn't!" Sting agreed. "But I do now, because you let me die! In fact you practically killed me! And you were happy that I died! After all, it's better me then Ralph, isn't it!"

"That's not true." Joe wailed. "I was heartbroken when you died. I wept for days. I still haven't gotten over it." He felt his knees begin to shake. "I didn't want any of my team to die. I didn't want to lose you, too. You were my first caught pokémon. You meant a lot to me."

"But now I mean nothing to you!" Sting roared, twisting Joe's words. "Because I am dead!"

"No." Joe said weakly. Sting's stingers moved.

"You wretched human vermin!" It screamed. Its drill arm flung at Joe, striking him I the shoulder. Joe stumbled backwards, the attack leaving a gash in his clothing. He stared at the bleeding wound. The beedrill monstrosity was directly in front of him. The buzzing was deafening. "Where's Ralph when you need him?!" It demanded, Jabbing Joe even harder in the stomach. "Where's your best friend when you need him?! I'll tel you, shall I? He doesn't care, the same way you didn't care about me! He's perfectly happy to let me kill you, because he knows you let me die! What difference does it make? You deserve this, and you know it!"

Joe fell onto his knees, the force of the attacks buckling his legs under him. "I…" He whimpered. "I'm sorry, Sting."

Sting buzzed furiously. "You're sorry?!" It yelled. Then it seemed to spit. "No you aren't! You human filth are never sorry! You just take, and ruin, and destroy, and enslave, and torture, and kill! You are all freaks, all of you! You let me die! You deserve death yourself!" Joe fell limp under Sting's attacks. There was nothing he could do. It was right. He was at fault. He could have done something to save Sting, but he hadn't. He'd let him die. He'd let Team Rocket kill him.

"I'm sorry." He repeated.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Sting screamed as his drill struck straight through Joe's shoulder, slicing an artery. The boy didn't even flinch. Purple poisoned blood drenched his shirt and jumped. Slowly Joe fell sideways, landing on his right arm on the floor. The world was starting to blur up. Sting stared at the blood on his drill, and swung it, trying to shake the life liquid off. "Fight me, you fuck!" It screamed. "FIGHT ME!" Joe said nothing. He just lay there, tears forming in his eyes as he curled into a ball. Sting growled. "I WILL END YOU, HERE AND NOW!" It screamed. Its drill pulled back, and flew at Joe's face.

"I didn't kill you." Joe muttered. "It wasn't my fault." Sting's drill stopped inches away from his face.

"What?" Sting muttered, anger still hinting in its voice.

Joe's mind was suddenly wide awake. New words had escaped his mouth. These weren't words of depression, or words of sadness. They were words of acceptance. He was letting go. After so long of being angry for his loss, he was finally letting it go. Joe sat up, the blood stopping its torrential poor down his body and healing up at the gashing wound which had already begun to scab.

"I am so sorry that you died, Sting." He said calmly. "I am sorry you were killed. But there was nothing I could have done. You helped save Ralph. If you hadn't jumped in the way of the bullet he would have died instead." Joe looked up at the apparition that was his deceased pokémon. "You saved him, Sting. You protected your friend, when I wasn't able to. You did something truly heroic, and I never forgave myself for loosing you. But now I suppose it's time I did." Sting growled. Its antennae twitched frantically. It was seemingly beginning to panic. "It hurts me to say this now." Joe continued. "But its time I truly said goodbye."

"No!" Sting roared, in a desperate attempt to stop him. "I hate you, human!" It screamed. "And you hate me!"

"No I don't." Joe said, keeping his emotions strong and calm. "It's time I let go of this grief I've been carrying around." He took his hat off. "I love you, Sting. I hope you are at piece."

The beedrill spirit shattered into darkness, and evaporated away. Joe sighed. He felt surprisingly relieved. For the longest time he had thought letting go off his past, of what he had lost, would hurt too much to bare. But now he'd faced it here by himself, and coming to terms with it had made him field weirdly strong. He was sad about losing Sting, but he had found new strength it what he'd lost. He'd never get him back, but he knew he could keep going. And he knew his friend was at piece.

There was a sudden cro behind him. Joe turned. Ralph was floating at the edge of the darkness, a worried look on his face. Joe smiled at him. Tears were beginning to run down his eyes.

"Ralph!" He called, sobbing a little. Ralph smiled back. "Come here." Joe rushed at his friend, scooping him up in a huge bear hug. Ralph hugged him back. The two friends embraced one another. A rush of emotion passed over them. They had been forced to confront what they had lost, and they were stronger people for it.

"Cro." Ralph called.

"I'm fine." Joe sobbed, hugging his friend tighter as tears continued down his face. "I'm just glad you're okay. I'm glad you'll always be okay." Ralph patted his trainer on the back in a comforting way. He had seen what Joe had faced. Meian had let him watch, keeping him hidden in the dark as he did so. He had no idea Joe was going through that much, but he was just glad he'd gotten over it now.

 _"_ _Congratulations, Joseph Glende."_ Meian said suddenly. Joe and Ralph let go and turned. The small abra deity was floating in the middle of the light, a big smile on its face. " _You have completed the test, with the best results we could have hoped for."_ Joe smiled back at the abra, wiping his eyes.

"That was your test then?" He asked. Meian nodded.

 _"_ _I am sorry you had to go through that."_ He apologised.

"It's okay." Joe told him. "I feel better for it."

 _"_ _That was not the real Sting."_ Meian told him. _"Just an apparition conjured by the temple."_

"I know." Joe said in agreement. "The real Sting is dead. He has been for almost half a year."

Meian nodded. _"You are the first hero in many millennia to complete this trial successfully."_ He told him. _"But you realised what many others didn't. You realised that you must accept your grief in order to let it go. Only when it's nearly beaten you, can you learn to live with it, to accept that it will never truly go away. It will never truly heal, but the scars will eventually fade."_ Meian's tail fluttered slightly. _"And now I believe it is time you left." He announced. "Team Rocket are still on the attack, and Terranius cannot be far away from the city by now."_

Joe nodded. "Thank you for this." He said kindly.

 _"_ _Now you will have the mental strength to fight back."_ Meian explained. _"Before that grief would have been your downfall, but now you have let it go you stand a higher chance at victory."_

"And this was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Joe realised. "You knew about my past, and you wanted to solve that problem for me."

"And it worked." Meian said with a smile. "You had best be going, hero. This war cannot be won without your effort."

Joe nodded. He put his arm around Ralph again. "Thank You, Meian." He said.

 _"_ _Before I send you back there is something quick I must say."_ Meian interrupted. _"What I said to you still counts. You have already experienced the betrayal, but by the end of this someone you love will still be lost."_ He warned. _"You should be careful where you put your emotions and who you share them with. Do so now, and you may regret it. But failing to do so may also bring regret. Be careful with yourself, for the Rockets will use it against you."_

Joe's smile fell a little. The way he was saying it made it seem he'd loose someone real close. "I'll be careful." He told him.

 _"_ _Good."_ Meian smiled. _"I'll teleport you to the Rocket base. They have Lugia imprison there. Free him and he'll help you fight the giant."_

"Wait what?" Joe asked. And then suddenly he was gone, as he and Ralph were engulfed in a pink ball of light. The light popped out of existence, and the two were teleported away.

 _"_ _Good luck, Hero."_ Meian called after them.

* * *

When reality came back to him Joe found himself lying face down on a dirty floor. He groaned in disgust and pushed his head up, looking around. He was indeed back in the rocket base. There was no one else around. All the grunts seemed to have left, no doubt heading off with the main group to the battle at Goldenrod City. Joe glanced to his left. Ralph was lying in a winged mas beside him, looking rather drained. Being teleported took a lot out of you.

"That damned abra." Joe muttered, annoyed that they hadn't been warned about teleporting yet again. "You doing okay, bud?" Joe asked. Reaching out a hand to check Ralph. Ralph groaned. "I hope that's a good sign." He muttered. He felt his bag move about, and then something rolled out. There was a small baby like cry as Casey rolled out of the bag, down his neck and over his face. The little togepi bubbled as he rolled about on his back in front of Joe's face, before standing up and waddling off. "Where are you going?" Joe asked, pushing himself up. Casey was already waddling of, heading towards the two large doors Joe had seen two grunts closing earlier that day.

"Togi-pi!" Casey exclaimed, pointing at the wood. He seemed to want them to go inside.

"What you found there?" Joe asked in a slightly babyish voice. Ralph slapped him around the back of the head and shushed him. Joe looked rather surprised. Before he was able to ask what the hell he was doing, he realised he could hear a faint voice calling out to him.

 _'_ _Hello?'_ It called. _'Is anyone there? It's pretty dark in here'._ It wasn't a person. People didn't tend to speak psychically.

"You think that's Lugia in there?" Joe asked.

Ralph shrugged. "Cro." He suggested.

"Hmm." Joe stepped towards the door. It was tall, but it didn't look to heavy. It was locked, but after a quick test Joe found that it wasn't locked very well. The bar was so rusted that it broke off with ease. The metal pad fell away with a rain of rust. Joe pushed the door open. The light from the crack began to poor in as slowly the door opened wider. And from the darkness there was a sigh of relief.

 _'_ _Oh thank god!'_ It boomed, still speaking in their heads but talking so loudly it was practically right next to them. 'I'm so glad you turned up. I was beginning to suffocate.'

Joe wondered who it was talking to them. He fumbled around the wall until he found the light switch, and didn't wait a second to turn it on. He, Ralph and Casey looked ahead of them as the lights flickered on one by one. The room was huge, and made of old rusting metal that would probably break away in a heavy rainfall. And at the furthest end of it, chained up in a metal cage, was a large white dragon. The dragon opened its eyes and looked at them. It seemed surprised.

 _'_ _Who are you?'_ It asked, but it didn't sound like it cared at all. Joe took a step forwards.

"I am Joe." He said simply. "I'm here to free you."

 _'_ _Oh, you are?'_ The dragon said, sounding surprised. _'Well, hurry up. There's a lot going on right now that I need to fix, so if you could just break these chains for me…'_

"Are you Lugia?" Joe asked, looking at the chained beast in amazement. The dragon stared at him.

 _'_ _Of course I am!'_ It boomed. _'Who did you think I was? Have you not know a legendary dragon when you see one, boy?'_

"Well, I've never met a legendary dragon…" Joe told him. "But I have met a smaller legendary before."

 _'_ _Probably a lesser one by the looks of your attitude.'_ Lugia muttered. _'Now get me out of here!'_

"Only if you help me." Joe said bravely. Lugia roared with rage.

 _'_ _What?'_ He yelled angrily. _'Do you not know who I am? I am the lord of the sea! I can drown you with just a flick of my wing! How dare you ask for help from me?'_

"It's important!" Joe snapped back. "Many people's lives depend on it."

 _'_ _How important can it be?'_ Lugia demanded.

"Terranius is going to destroy the city!" Joe snapped. "Team Rocket freed it, and now it's headed for Goldenrod. You have to help me stop it!" Lugia was quiet.

 _'_ _Terranius has been freed from its prison?'_ He asked. Joe nodded. _'By who?'_

"By me." Joe said with embarrassment. Lugia spat.

 _'_ _I knew you were no good.'_

"I didn't do it by choice." Joe told him. "Now I'm trying to fix this problem. Please, help me do this or Team Rocket will destroy everything."

 _'_ _And this is my problem how?'_ Lugia asked.

"They seem to have trapped you quite well." Joe told him, finding a nerve to strike at. "You're probably the first legendary to ever be caught. You'll certainly be the first one they kill if you remain here."

Lugia growled. _'You're a smart human.'_ He muttered. A small smile grew on his face. 'Alright. Get me out of these chains, and I'll help you.'

Joe smiled gratefully back. "Thank you." He said. Lugia rolled its eyes.

 _'_ _Yes, yes, the great Lugia is so wise and kind. Now hurry it up!'_ It snapped. Joe had to admit he was surprised a legendary could be so pompous and arrogant, especially considering that he was supposed to be ancient, almost as old as the world. But he went about helping to free the dragon. Again the locks were easy to break. In fact they were so easy that Joe was surprised Lugia hadn't freed itself already. The metal chains fell away, and Lugia began to stretch its wings. The dragon pressed them against the metal bars, and the cage shattered outwards like an egg bursting open to reveal a live baby bird inside. The legendary dragon stretched its back and wings, groaning with relief. He laughed with relief. _'Finally.'_ He groaned, his bones cracking with the new movement. _'Free again.'_

Joe smiled at the beast. "Now you'll help me?" He asked. Lugia bowed its long neck.

 _'_ _A promise is a promise.'_ It said wisely. _'You have freed me, so I will help you.'_ It chuckled. _'To be honest once you told me Terranius was loose again I was going to help you anyway.'_ It admitted. _'That monster cannot be allowed to roam. It will destroy everything in its path, even the mountains should they stand in its way. It must be stopped before we lose everything.'_

"Can you get us to Goldenrod City before it gets there?" Joe asked. Lugia nodded, stretching his wings wide.

 _'_ _Of course I can.'_ It lowered a wing down towards the boy. _'Climb on, human.'_ He called.

Joe was cautious at first, as the dragon's wing wasn't totally a solid object. But he eventually managed to climb up the wing using his arms to grip the bone and he climbed up onto its back. He carried Casey up with him, making sure he was okay and placed safely in his bag so he didn't fall out as they flew through the air. Ralph took up a gripping position in front of Joe. He wasn't going to fly as fast as Lugia could, and it was best he used the dragon as transport, rather than air companion.

 _'_ _Everyone on board?'_ Lugia asked, glancing back at his passengers with a turn of its neck.

"We're okay." Joe called to the pilot.

 _'_ _Then hold on tight!'_ The dragon called, raising its wings. _'We're in for a long flight and there's no breaks!'_ Lugia opened its mouth and fired a massive blast of psychic energy at the roof. The metal and wood shattered into splinters, breaking away and revealing the bright blue sky once more. The light was blinding. Lugia flapped his wings, and took off. The great white dragon shot through the roof and into the sky.

* * *

 **I just wanted to quickly say guys I'm sorry this chapter gets a little rushed, especially near the end. Thing is I've been really ill while writing this. In fact I've been in bed most of this week alone, I haven't even been in to work. So, as you can guess, I didn't start writing anything again till Friday morning! So yeah, sorry the quality wasn't as good as usual. I was quite worried I wouldn't get it done by today, but I'm surprised by how much I've managed to do in that short time. Actually, I think I've put in a bit too much, certainly more then I originally planed to do. But either way, I hope you're still enjoying the story. The next one's going to have some actually fighting in it, so you have something to look forward to.**

 **See ya then, and follow for more chapters to come :)**


	34. Chapter 34: The Battle of Giants

**I'd just like to say a quick apology for this chapter being so late. I was trying to get it done by Sunday, but a lot of things popped up in my personal life to distract me, so I'm sorry about that but sometimes it can't be helped. I'm also going to have to apologist for the next chapter as it is also likely to be late. It's my birthday next week (The 3rd of March if you must know) so yeah, I'm going to be pretty busy then too. I'll be lucky if I get a minute to myself at all. But hey, you're not hear to read me ramble on. Sorry that this chapter was so late. Hopefully the amount in it makes up for that. This is the longest chapter I've done in a while. It's actually the longest one I've done for this story, though not the franchise. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

The world was nothing but a blur at the speeds they were making. Lugia's body ruptured the sky like an arrow through space, a constant acceleration of white matter with wings. Joe and Ralph clung on for dear life, holding their heads close to his back. The great sea dragon was a surprisingly good flyer. The air whipped up their hair. Joe had to pocket his hat just to keep it from flying away as it came loose from his head. A massive grin was on the boy's face. Now this was flying! This was what men dared to dream off. He could never have experienced something like this by himself, even Ralph didn't move like this. While Ralph was fast, and very agile, he wasn't this majestic. Lugia rolled, gaining speed as he flapped his massive wings. In the distance they could see their target, growling slowly larger as the land moved under them.

"There it is!" Joe called, pointing his arm ahead of him. Terranius was almost at the city. Its huge hooved feet had carried it away from the ruins surprisingly quickly. Its arms were getting ready to destroy the closest buildings. "Do you know how to fight it?" Joe asked the dragon.

 _'_ _I think so'_ Lugia called back to him.

"You think so?" Joe called back.

 _'_ _Yeah. There should be a weakness somewhere on its body. Don't worry, we'll find it!'_ It called reassuringly. Joe glanced at Ralph. He too looked very concerned by that statement.

"Oh good god!" Joe muttered loudly over the wind. The Dragon swooped in behind the titan and attacked.

"Hydro Pump!" Winter commanded. Starmie and River blasted two unlucky grunts and their raticate back, away from the barricade. More charged up after them.

"Thunderbolt!" Silver instructed. Magneton blasted a crowd of attacking golbat, shocking them out of the air as they flew in to attack above the barricade. More grunts continued to swarm towards the barricade.

"They're still coming!" A trainer cried, withdrawing his pokémon as a grunt got lucky and struck it down. Another trainer, eager to fight, took his place, sending out a Geodude that started throwing rocks at a nearby enemy ekans.

"Keep them back!" A police sergeant commanded, as he struck a grunt that got too close with his baton. The grunt fell away back down the barricade, only to be engulfed by his fellow grunts and lost under a sea of uniforms. Winter wiped her brow. They'd been fighting for almost an hour, and still they were getting nowhere. When were these grunts going to wear out?

"Look out!" A younger trainer yelled. Winter struck the ground, ducking as a massive plume of fire flew over the barricade, burning the top and setting it alight. There were a few screams. Water immediately followed after it from the defending side of the barricade as a few trainers tried to put the blaze out.

"We can't keep this up much longer!" Silver called, as Croconaw blasted back an attacking grunt who was unfortunate enough to get too close. "They're still attacking!"

"Just keep going!" Winter called back to him. "We need to hold them back!"

There was a sudden whoosh as a shadow passed over. Every head looked up. They were amazed to see a massive white skinned dragon pass through the sky, large fingered wings open and thrusting back with immense force. Winter's mouth fell open. She had never seen anything so graceful and powerful at the same time. It was a pure legendary, an amazing beast that hopefully was on their side. And something was on its back. She gasped.

"No way!" She muttered. "That can't be him?" As she watched the trainer's hand slipped and his face became visible against the sun as he tried to regain his grip. "Oh my god it is!" She muttered amazed. "How the bloody hell did he get a dragon?"

Joe exclaimed as his grip loosened, but he managed to recover and continued to cling on to Lugia's thin skinned back.

"Nearly lost it there!" He exclaimed with relief. Ralph cro'd with worried agreement. Lugia turned around as it passed over the city, coming back around to attack.

 _'_ _The Titan is nearly here now!'_ He called back. _'Be prepared to hold on tight!'_

Joe didn't argue back. He gripped hold of Lugia's skin and wrapped his arms around the legendary's neck, holding tight. Lugia swooped lower, and found his target. The titan was not hard to miss. It was destroying the entire woods around it. Trees were ripped from their roots, bark was scattered in shards. The main suspect for this destruction wasn't the giant's arms but its feet. It didn't look where it stood. Why would it need to? Its motivation was only to destroy, so crushing a few trees under foot was nothing it would lose sleep on. It was nearly at the wall of the city now. Its hammer arm was swinging back to strike the brick. The structure wouldn't stand a second of a chance. But it hadn't seen the dragon flying towards it. Not yet, but it soon would.

 _'_ _Here we go!'_ Lugia roared. And the legendary attacked the giant.

The first thing Lugia did was blast the titan with a massive beam of torrential air. The wave struck Terranius in the chest, knocking it a step back. The titan roared somehow. It didn't have a mouth, not a visible one at least. Its arms flailed slowly. Ay movement something that big made was going to be slow. It was the size of the tallest tower in Johto, which just so happened to be located in the city it was trying to destroy. Once it regained balance its massive eye focused on its attack, the smaller white dragon hovering in front of its face. Energy wisped away from Lugia's open mouth. He had to recharge. And now Terranius had a chance to attack back. It pulled its hammer ended arm back and then swung it forwards. The air whistled as the mass of rock shaped into a weapon swung at its target.

"Look out!" Joe yelled. Lugia rolled down, avoiding the swinging arm. Joe covered his ears. The sound of the air being struck open by a swinging hammer was enough to burst his eardrums. The titan seemed annoyed that it had missed. Its other arm came swinging around in an open palm, as if it was trying to slap them from the air. Lugia flew around it, avoiding the attack again and flying around the back of the beast. The second attack he made was a hydro pump the size and length of an artillery gun's barrel, and with all the force of one. The watery torrent struck the titan in the back shoulder, causing it to grumble and groan. The creaking rock sound it made when it turned was louder than the sound of existence itself.

 _'_ _It didn't like that!'_ Lugia yelled, flying back around in an attempt to keep moving.

"It's a rock type!" Joe realised. "So that means it must be weaker it water type moves!" He patted Lugia's shoulder. "We need to blast it with more water!" He told it.

 _'_ _And erode it away?"_ Lugia seemed to like this idea. _'That might work!'_ It called back to him. _'We just need to find the right place to strike it!'_

Lugia sped up, blasting through the air like a white cannon ball with wings. Terranius's massive eye and massive pyramid head turned on its unseen neck, creating a scraping rock sound as it moved. It was not letting the dragon out of its sight. It knew what they were trying to do now, and it wasn't happy. It turned, swinging its large arm like a Warhammer.

 _'_ _Incoming!'_ Lugia yelled suddenly. Joe gripped on tight as he looked. The titan's arm flew straight past their face, and Lugia was forced to halt in mid-flight. Joe was nearly flung from his back as the dragon stopped moving. The titan did not stop its attack. The propulsion of the swing was keeping it moving, practically pivoting from its waist joint. _'That was too close!_ ' Lugia gasped.

"We have to keep fighting it!" Joe told him. "Fly back around! Maybe it has a weakness somewhere!" Lugia nodded and flapped its wings, pushing itself into acceleration again. The white dragon flew around the massive rock titan, keeping itself moving as the two danced around one another.

Meanwhile the barricade was beginning to fall apart. The defenders were doing their best to fight of the grunts, but there were so many and each of them were pushing against the other into the wood, forcing it to fall away. Team Ace were beginning to back away, but a police officer pushed them back into the fray.

"Keep fighting back!" He yelled, his gun unclipping itself from his belt. "They can't fight us forever.

From the opposite side of the barricade Archer and his commanders watched as their grunts charged to attack. The leader of Team Rocket watched as his people began to rip apart the wooden wall that had been manmade.

"They are such cowards." Petrel muttered, chuckling evilly. "They hide behind fake walls when the legion comes charging in." Archer turned to the redheaded commander.

"Ariana, Petrel, destroy that wall!" He instructed. The red-haired and purple-haired commanders grinned and walked forwards, unclipping a pokeball each.

"Silver, Duck!" Winter cried. Silver dropped to his knees as a massive rock flew over his head. He stood up and growled.

"Noctowl, blast that graveler away!" He roared. His Noctowl blasted a ball of psychic energy at the large rock pokémon, knocking it out with minimal effort. "Good job!" Silver called. Winter smiled. She was glad her friend was at least able to fight back. That was a good sign. She'd hate to turn and see that he'd been overwhelmed by an army of men in black. She turned back around to face the barricade. And then she saw something coming towards them. She squinted her eyes into the distance. A long purple hooded snake was slithering quickly through the army of grunts towards the barricade. It was moving with all its weight at its front. And behind it, moving surprisingly quickly for its size, was an inflated koffing, looking ready to burst. She quickly realised what was going to happen.

"Look out!" She screamed, and jumped aside. A second later the wooden barricade erupted into shards. Everyone standing on it or standing close to it was thrown backwards with amazing force. The wood fell to pieces, falling away to the floor and lying in a pile of splinters and shards. Winter landed on her face, shielding her head from the wooden fragments. Silver landed next to her, lying in the same position. The rocket grunts weren't waiting for a minute. They charged straight through the gap, attacking everyone who was unlucky enough to be nearby.

Winter sat up. Her whole body was wincing from the blast. The force of the explosion had been surprisingly powerful. Her ears were ringing and every part of her body was flinching. She opened her eyes, the light of the evening hurting her retina. She winced as she tried to stand up, but her legs didn't seem to be working just yet. And then she heard fast slithering coming towards her. She looked up with horror. Arbok was charging directly towards her. Its massive fanged maw was opening wide. She had no time to react. All she could do was try to move aside. But the snake had seen her, and it was glaring at her with a hungry stare. It sped towards her, death in its eyes. Winter curled up, unable to do anything. Her legs had lost their strength. Her arms had lost their grip. She lay still, waiting for the inevitable. But at the last second she was saved by an unlikely hero. Right before Arbok was able to attack, it was struck in the side by a massive pink cow. The giant snake fell flat onto its side, the force of the fat pokémon sending it flying. Winter looked up. A gym leader was standing in front of her. The gym leader of this very city. Whitney smiled at her kindly.

"You were lucky there." She said insensitively. "That could have been bad." Another gym leader stepped up next to her. Winter was amazed. Falkner was here. Somehow he had found out about the attack. Winter could believe Whitney would have known, but the fact there were more gym leaders here, fighting with them, was something she could quite believe. Falkner smiled at her, remembering her from earlier in their adventure, and offered her a hand up.

"It's good to see you again." He said with a smile. "I'm just sorry it was on this day."

Winter took his hand and stood up. "What are you doing here?" She asked, looking amazed between the two gym leaders. "How did you know we were under attack?"

"We got a tip off." Falkner said. "From a friend of yours." Winter looked confused. She was about to ask who, when a figure suddenly stepped up behind the two young gym leaders. He pushed past them and smiled at the girl, his scared eye glinting in the sun's rays. Winter gasped.

"Cheng?" She asked. The ex team Rocket commander nodded proudly.

"I thought you guys would need some help." He explained. "Besides, my brother asked me to come and give him a hand. I knew he wouldn't find this as easy as he thought."

Winter was struck by amazement. She couldn't believe this man was here, helping. This man who, not long ago, had been a part of Team Rocket. And then she remembered Danning. She nodded. "It's good you're here." She told him welcomingly. "We can use all the help we can get."

"Oh, this isn't all the help." Cheng told her. "Not yet." He looked past her, back at the fray of the battle that was still going on. There was a cheer of excitement from the defending trainers and police officers. Winter looked around. More gym leaders had shown up. Morty, the ghost user, had literally appeared in the middle of the fight, and now his Gengar was blasting away grunts with its shadow ball at an unpredictable speed. And from the air two more were showing up. One of them was Clair, riding on the back of a dragonite. And another gym leader was with her. It was Jasmine. Her long dress flailed as the air passed through it. As they came low to the ground she released a pokeball and her Steelix appeared, falling through the air like a giant steel bomb. It impacted, landing on several grunts and their pokémon, squashing them flat. Jasmine then jumped off dragonite's back, landing safely beside her pokémon with no injuries.

"Take that, you thieving monsters!" She yelled, as Steelix swung its tail around and sent several more of them flying backwards. Clair meanwhile flew off, towards the titan that was attacking just outside the city.

"You brought half this region's gym leaders with you." Winter muttered.

"Yep." Cheng said proudly. "Now maybe we stand a chance at winning this."

"We'll fight Team Rocket back!" Falkner said sternly. "They may be plenty in numbers, but they don't have our pokémon." Whitney nodded in agreement. Although she was practically a child she seemed to be surprisingly calm and confident about what was going on. Most of the normal trainers her age, and older, were crying or looking terrified as they battled their rocket opponents. She turned on the spot.

"Miltank, flatten them all!" She exclaimed. Miltank called back in response and rushed the Rocket line, sending grunts flying like hollow bowling pins. Whitney chased after her pokémon, following to make sure it didn't get badly hurt. Falkner turned back to the ex-rocket commander and bowed his head.

"I ought to help them." He said. "Good luck, Mr Glende." The young gym leader turned on his grey and white trainers and dashed into the battle, his pidgeot swooping in after him.

"Why'd he say good luck?" Winter asked. She looked at Cheng's grinning expression, and realised he was subtly hiding something in his mind. "You have a plan?" She asked.

"Sort of." Cheng agreed, shrugging at her. "My son's up there, fighting that titan for us. But, even if he wins, Archer will just slip by and retreat if he loses. Someone needs to keep him occupied so he can't do that."

"And that's what you're going to do, isn't it?" She realised.

"Someone needs to." Cheng told her. "I can handle him. I know Archer better than all of you."

"Wouldn't you want us to help take on Archer?" Winter asked. "At least ask Walker to help."

Cheng shook his head. "It's better overall if he's distracted, not confronted." He explained. "Besides, I think he knows what I'm gonna do."

"Does he even know you're here yet?" Winter asked.

"No." Cheng said with a smile. "But he will soon enough." The ex-Rocket Commander winked at her, then turned and ran, charging around the raging battle which had spread to the streets by the gate and destroyed barricade. Winter had to admit that man confused her. He had once been so aggressive towards her and Joe, and now he was cheery and upbeat. It was as if he'd become an entirely new person all together. She had no idea how he'd done it. It made her kind of jealous of Joe. When he wasn't being a mad Nazisistic psycho, his dad was pretty cool. But it was about time she helped out in the fight again. Her pokémon were doing well by themselves, just about, but that wasn't guaranteed to last. And Silver seemed to be struggling. He glanced over at her and saw her standing alone and away from the fight. The expression he gave her was one of purest pleading help. This was her cue to rush in and save him. She sighed, hitched up her bag and walked calmly back towards the fight. The cliffs of hell was standing right in front of her, and she was going to scale them bare hand, without safe professional climbing gear and no experience in the sport. She was rushing into the flames with oil covered grass clothing, and she was not frightened in the slightest.

* * *

Up above the fight between Terranius and Lugia was starting to get tired. The white dragon was dodging so successfully, but it was clear he was beginning to tire. The only reason he was still succeeding to go unhurt was because the great titan was so slow moving. It took at least twenty seconds to make a successful swing at them, and that was more than enough time to move out of the way. But the problem came that Terranius was not tiring out. Each swing moved with the same amount of strength and interest as the previous one. It was barely slowing in the slightest. Yet Lugia, even though he was a legendary pokémon, had to take a few seconds to rest every now and then, and it was clear he was starting to slow down. Soon he wouldn't be able to evade any attacks. And they still had not spotted any weaknesses. The titan was nothing but solid rock, no weak areas anywhere, not even on the back of the knee, or even the heel. This thing was invulnerable, with exception to a few accurate hydro pump attacks.

 _'_ _This still isn't working!'_ Lugia complained, its psychic voice sounding tired out.

"We need to keep trying!" Joe encouraged him.

"Cro!" Ralph agreed.

 _'_ _It's all well and good, you two saying to keep it up…!"_ Lugia complained. _'But you aren't flying! You're just hitchhiking!'_

"We have to able to bring it down!" Joe told him. "You did it once before! Surely there's a way to do it again!"

 _'_ _I never fought this thing!'_ Lugia complained. _'That was left to other legendries, older legendries!'_ Joe was quiet for a second.

"Older legendries than you?" He asked confused.

 _'_ _Yes!'_ Lugia snapped _. 'It was probably Palkia, or Dialga. Maybe even Giratina if he could've been bothered. They're some of the oldest legendries. This thing must have been around some time after them. They'd know what to do about it, but I haven't got a clue!'_ Joe suddenly realised just how much Lugia sounded like Silver.

"Look, we can still do this!" He said in an attempt to be encouraging. "We just need to keep going!" He looked up at the rock giant. It was trying to swing for another attack. "Circle around it's back!" Joe called. "Maybe there's a weakness near its head!"

 _'_ _Yes, boss.'_ The legendary pokémon complained.

Lugia flapped its wings and sped forwards, circling around the back of the giant. Again it moved with them, trying to stop them getting to its back. It did that every time they tried to circle it. For some reason it wasn't keen on them being behind it. This had struck Joe as odd, and his logical thoughts had been that it was trying to protect something, maybe a sensitive part of its body. But every time they tried to attack it there, it'd turn and attack back. Lugia dodged another swing of the titan's hammer.

"How is it reacting so quickly?" Joe muttered, clinging on tight as Lugia made a quick spiral to avoid the striking rock swinging towards them. "Something this big and this heavy, it shouldn't move this quick!"

 _'_ _You think you understand physics?'_ Lugia muttered with a chuckled. _'Try explaining how something as fat as a dragonite is able to fly on such small wings! Try looking at it from that perspective!'_ Joe wasn't too sure what Lugia's point was, but he thought he had a basic understanding of what he meant.

"So this thing is moving so fast because it isn't aware it should be moving slower?" He asked.

 _'_ _Precisely!'_ Lugia called back.

"That makes no sense." Joe told him. Lugia was quiet. Joe shook his head. "Can we just get back to fighting this thing?" He demanded. "Try another hydro pump!"

"Cro!" Ralph called suddenly. He pointed his wing tip to the sky on the opposite side of the rock made titan.

"What is it, Ralph?" Joe asked over the rush of the wind. Ralph continued to point off into the blue. Joe looked at where he was pointing. Another dragon was flying towards them, except this one was smaller, fatter and orange, with much smaller wings on its back. This dragon also had a human on its back. Clare waved at him when she spotted Lugia flying around Terranius's arm.

"Hello!" She called. Her voice was almost lost under the roar of Lugia's hydro pump.

"Clare?" Joe called, confused. "What are you doing?"

"I'm here to help, dumbass!" She called back. "You probably need it." She looked at the titan as she flew towards it. It hadn't seen her yet. It was too busy trying to swat Joe and Lugia from the air to notice her much smaller dragon behind it. "How on earth do you plan to defeat this thing?" She yelled across the open space of air. Joe didn't know what to tell her. So far nothing had worked. Nothing Lugia had done had effected it.

 _'_ _Tell her to get its attention!'_ Lugia said suddenly. Joe quickly realised what the great dragon was planning. He looked back across to the gym leader and cupped his hands.

"Clare!" He called.

"Yeah?" Clare called back.

"I need you to grab that things attention." Joe told her. "Make it focus on you, so we can find a weak spot to attack it at."

"Okay!" Clare called back. She looked up at the rock titan. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked. "I mean, if this thing hits me once I'll be flattened like an air pancake."

"Just please trust me!" He called encouragingly. "You'll be fine. Just be careful and keep its eye on you!"

"Alright." Clare called. She didn't sound encouraged. She patted Dragonite's side, and suddenly they flew off, towards the head of the titan. They hovered in front of the great pyramid, but its eye was not focused on them. It was watching Lugia still, who had just flown past in another attempt to get around to its back. Again, the titan was not allowing it. It swung around heavily, its head turning away from Clare. "Hyper Beam!" She called. Dragonite gathered light through its mouth and fired it in a massive beam at the back of Terranius's head. The attack struck, connecting with the joint where its pyramid head met with its bulky rock shoulders. To Clare's surprise, and to the surprise of Lugia who had certainly not expected the result, the titan took a heavy amount of damage. It stumbled forwards, losing balance as its head rocket about on its shoulders. It roared in pain, as the rock boiled and steamed visible on the surface. They were amazed by what they were seeing. The titan was literally melting away where it had been hit.

 _'_ _That must be a weak spot!'_ Lugia realised.

"Quick, attack it just under the skull!" Joe called.

 _'_ _With pleasure!'_ Lugia roared back. He flapped his great white wings and sped towards the back of the giant, a hydro pump readied in his mouth.

Terranius's attention had suddenly been focused on Clare now. It spun around, its massive red iris eye glaring at her with fury. Smoke continue to rise up from behind it, although it was tough to tell if this was from the wound or the fact that it was clearly very angry. Clare felt a slight flicker of nerves go up and down her body.

"Yeah, that's right!" She yelled at it, waving her arms. "You see me, don't you?" The titan roared aggressively. Clare grinned. "Come get me then!" She yelled. Terranius's massive fist arm pulled back, glowing white. Clare suddenly regretted her words. She kicked Dragonite with her feet. "Down!" She exclaimed. Dragonite dived, just as Terranius's attack flew in to strike. The mega punch erupted in the air, causing white energy to spike around it like wildfire through a forest.

"Now, Lugia!" Joe called. Lugia reached the back of the titan, released his attack, and struck it just under the back of its pyramid skull. The titan roared furiously. It swung around, in an attempt to grab its attack. And as it did so it stumbled backwards, its massive feet kicking the walls.

"Look out!" Someone yelled. The wall around the city crumbled as the titan's feet kicked it down accidentally. Pieces of plaster and concrete fell away in large chunks. The titan's hooved rock foot dug through the street tarmac, digging it up like a shovel through wet dirt. The ground shook as it moved, the buildings wobbled as it treaded the earth's shell, getting closer and closer towards civilization.

Silver glanced backwards. He saw the wall fall down, and the titan step onto the road halfway down the city. His teeth gritted. This fight was proving to be much tougher then he'd thought it'd be. And now it was starting to get darker. The sun was falling behind the horizon. They'd been fighting the Rockets back for ages, but they just weren't slowing down. Every grunt they defeated seemed to get right back up with a friend at their side. He turned back around. Another grunt was rushing towards him, a furious raticate at their side.

"Psychic!" He commanded. Alakazam blasted the grunt away, knocking them out cold against the fallen barricade ruins. Another collective of grunts saw the attack and rushed him, stampeding over their fallen colleague. Silver groaned. Not more grunts. He turned to command Alakazam, but Alakazam had already got caught up with another fight, this time with a sudden attacking and particularly vicious swarm of grimer. Silver sighed. The only free pokémon he had left was Croconaw. And these grunts were carrying ekans, zubat, gloom, koffing, raticate and probably several other pokémon they hadn't released yet. Croconaw was strong, but he couldn't deal with so many pokémon by himself.

"Get him!" They yelled to one another. Their pokémon gnashed their teeth, or roared, or growled, or hissed, or flapped their wings in an irregular pattern. Silver realised that he didn't have much of a choice but to fight. He certainly couldn't outrun them.

"Croconaw, use slash!" He called. Croconaw looked at the charging grunts, and felt a small pit of fear open up in his gut. But he didn't disobey his trainer. He knew he had no choice but to fight back. He stepped up and pulled his right claw back to fight. The first pokémon to reach him was an unlucky ekans. Croconaw slashed it, striking the snake in the gut and sending it coiling sideways, limply. The next pokémon, a zubat, got the same treatment and ended up with the same result. The next pokémon to reach him was a little toughed to deal with. The gloom resisted Croconaw's slash with a surprising amount of resilience, and attempted to attack back with a flurry of razor leaf. A few of the blades struck Croconaw in the shoulder, but he survived. "Bite back!" Silver commanded. Croconaw bit back. This time his attack knocked Gloom straight out, and the depressing flower wilted down to the floor in a defeated pile. Next to attack was a rather bloated koffing. That probably meant it was planning to blow up in his face. "Water gun the koffing!" Silver commanded. Croconaw spat a stream of water from its mouth, pelting the floating ball of gas with the attack and rocking it from its levitational point. But koffing were sturdy pokémon. Sadly this one was strong enough to resist the attack. And unfortunately it was indeed planning to explode. The force of the blast was strong enough to knock Silver over. Croconaw meanwhile was flung backwards, rolling across the ground like a limp plush toy. He eventually stopped flat a few metres back, groaning in pain. The last pokémon was coming at him, a rather aggressive and furious raticate. Silver looked between the two of them, fearful concern growing in his heart like a bloody flower. "Come on, Croconaw." He muttered, trying to be confident again. "Get up and get it!" Croconaw slowly tried to push himself up, but it was too late. Raticate was already in front of it. The large brown rat opened its fangs and bit down on Croconaw's skull, trapping it in the rat's massive gnashing teeth. Croconaw screamed in pain. It tried to pry open its teeth and be free, but the raticate wasn't allowing it. It began to hop around, shaking Croconaw around in its grip. The unlucky amphibious lizard yelled in pain as its neck was bitten into. He desperately tried to scratch at Raticate's eyes, but his arms were too short. So instead he grabbed its open jaw. There was a cracking sound, and Raticate screamed with a held open jaw. It tried to let go, it tried to back away, but suddenly Croconaw had the upper hand. His claws sank into its jawbone and refused to let go. The rat bit down harder, which only made Croconaw's grip stronger. Silver watched in amazement as the two pokémon wrestled each other on the street.

And then something even more amazing happened. Croconaw, for no apparent reason, started to glow. Blue watery light spread up from its feet, seeping through the tarmac of the road, and travelled up his body like a coat made of rain. Silver watched, open mouthed. The light spread over Croconaw's body, forming a bubble around the shape. Raticate stared wide eyed in horror as its attacker changed shape in front of it. And still Croconaw was not letting go. The light formed a bubble, and ten seconds later that bubble popped. Croconaw was not the thing standing before them anymore. This creature was like something from a Godzilla film. Long, powerful clawed arms. Strong tail. Massive jaw. Small eyes. Evil glare. The massive kaiju like beast that had taken Croconaw's place stared into the eyes of its terrified opponent. And then it roared. The reptilian scream was louder than that of a T-rex, and a hundred times more dread filling. Raticate was left with just an open mouthed scream. And a second later it was left with barely its life. The titanic crocodile lifted it up by its jaw, spun around like a shot putter and hurled the rodent all the way across the fighting and over the smashed city walls. It landed in the grass, unconscious. The grunt that had owned it looked back, then turned to the blue lizard. Silver grinned evilly. The grunt was a smart grunt it turned out. He turned tail and ran. His friends had already done so when their pokémon had been defeated, but only he had been force to see the true terror that was a newly evolved feraligatr.

"Yeah, that's right!" Silver yelled at the grunt as he ran away. "And don't come back. Or we'll be forced to kick your ass a second time." He suddenly caught a glance from Walker, who was keeping back ten grunts with Arco alone. He seemed to disapprove of the boy's cockiness. Silver found that his voice suddenly quietened. "Well, I might do that." He muttered to nothing. He looked at Croconaw, expecting to see Croconaw. Then he remembered that Croconaw was now four foot taller, and not Croconaw. Feraligatr had his arms crossed, looking rather sassy with its raised eyebrows and big smile. Silver smiled back. "Good job, partner." He said. Feraligatr made a reptilian purring sound back. Silver stroked its head affectionately. "Come on." He said, patting the dinosaur on the shoulder. "Let's go destroy a few more grunts." Feraligatr cracked its knuckles and waddled off, its heavy tail swinging wildly behind it. Silver chuckled and followed after his last to evolve pokémon.

Meanwhile, at the centre of the battlefield, Winter was struggling. Archer's commanders had now thrown themselves into the fray, and somehow she had managed to end up confronting Proton. The cyan haired young man grinned evilly at her. He clearly recognised her.

"So we fight again." He muttered, his teeth glistening in the falling sunlight. Winter glared back. Like Silver, Walker and practically everyone else in the fight right now, most of her pokémon were occupied by other battles. She only had two left to fight for her. Mar and Eevee. Unfortunately Mar had already taken quite a beating, and it was clear he was tiring out already. Proton however still had both his remaining pokémon, both of which were at peak condition for battle. His Muk and Golbat waited beside him, their sinister stares sending fearful nerves down their opponent's spines. Eevee was clearly quite afraid. The little pokémon tried to hide behind Winter's legs. After the last fight it had been it wasn't too keen on facing another tough Rocket commander. Winter hated herself for it, but she had to force it to fight. She knew that, if it didn't, she and her pokémon would be killed. Proton laughed. "Looks like you're running out of pokémon!" He stated. "And the ones you have left are so weak already. Might as well just give up now!"

"And let you and your men destroy this city?" Winter jeered back. "Not while I live and breathe."

Proton grinned. "Then live and breathe no more!" He yelled. His gloved arm thrust forwards. "Attack!" He screamed. Golbat was the first to attack, being the faster of the two pokémon. It flew straight at Eevee, long fangs bare and wide. Eevee shrunk away, ducking under the swooping bite attack. Golbat flew back around for another attack.

"Fight it, Eevee!" Winter called. But Eevee was too scared. He ducked down again, all confidence draining from its body like blood sucked through a vampire's fangs. This time golbat went for a wing attack. As Eevee ducked its long skin wing lashed down, striking the small mammalian pokémon in the side of the spine. Eevee rolled, hurt. Winter sighed. This battle was going to be a real struggle.

"Sludge Bomb!" Proton called. Muk hurled a massive ball of explosive sludge at Mar.

"Evade it!" Winter called. Mar rolled aside with ease, his large spherical body curling up to move faster aside. The attack however had a large spread. When the ball struck where Mar had been, it exploded with the force of a military grade missile. Purple gunk sprayed everywhere for ten feet. Mar was struck in the side, and immediately the gooey liquid began to burn. He yelled in pain as the toxic substance melted his skin. "Bubblebeam!" Winter called. Mar began to spew a cloud of bubbles from his mouth and onto the sludge. The attack washed most of the substance of, but a few small specks refused to budge. Fortunately he was still strong enough to keep fighting. Mar glared at Muk, the giant pile of living slime glaring back with evil eyes. "Now rollout!" Winter commander. Mar curled into a ball and rolled forwards, moving with rising speed. But unluckily for him Muk was surprisingly quick. It pulled out a sludgy arm and struck forwards, batting the azumarill ball back, across the street and back to winter's heels. Mar lay out flat, the force of the attack knocking all energy from his body. He lay defeated on the floor, unable to fight any further. Winter groaned. That meant only Eevee was left. She knew the little pokémon couldn't win this by itself. She was done for, and Proton knew it. The Rocket Commander smiled maliciously.

"Looks like you're out of pokémon." He told her, taking a step closer. His two pokémon followed his, evil grins on their respective faces. "Just give up now, and your death will be quick and painless. Winter backed away, Eevee curling around her legs again. The poor thing was so terrified. Winter didn't know what to do. For the first time in a while she began to fear for her own life.

Then she heard a whooshing sound, and something avian landed behind her. She turned around, and gasped. "Zephyr!" She gasped amazed. Her own pokémon had flown down to save her. But then she realised that no, it wasn't just Zephyr. There were three Pidgeots behind her, each of which looked almost exactly the same as its sibling. The middle one cawed with a hint of affection. This one was Zephyr. The one on the right looked older, and had an air of nobility and wise intelligence to it. Quickly Winter realised that this pokémon was Sonic, Walker's own pidgeot. So that meant that the third one, the one on the left, was most likely Falkner's Pidgeot. She was amazed. A flock of birds had turned up to save her. It was like something from The Lord of The Rings. Behind them Falkner himself, the flying type gym leader, walked up, a big grin on his face.

"You looked like you needed some help." He told her. "So I brought a few friends." Zephyr cawed again, this time making an aggressive call to scare his opponent. Proton suddenly looked quite worried. He took a step back.

"Golbat, rip them apart!" He growled. Unthinking, Golbat flew at the three giant birds, jaw wide and wings slashing.

"Wing attack!" Falkner called. All three birds attacked simultaneously, claws out and beaks pecking sharply. Golbat had no chance. In seconds it was engulfed by a flurry of feathers, and then its unconscious body fell out from in-between the animals. The three great pigeons turned their vicious gaze on Muk and the commander. Proton took another few steps back.

"This is hardly fare!" He muttered. "I can't fight three of them at once."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you attempted to attack a city." Falkner stated. He pointed his hand. "Destroy him." He stated calmly. The three birds attacked.

Proton growled. "Sludge them down!" He yelled. Muk created another sludge bomb and threw it at the Pidgeots. The attack sailed past them as Zephyr and his friends pulled of an impressive barrel role in mid-air. Then they attacked. Their claws dug into the slime creature's skin, their beaks struck at its sludgy flesh. But somehow it resisted all of them. And now it had them close enough to strike. With one massive pounding strike of its arm, Muk was able to swat all three birds from the air. The three giant pigeons struck the ground, a wave of pale feathers falling down after them.

"Zephyr!" Winter cried. Zephyr's eye opened once more. It glanced back at his worried trainer, and slowly he rose back to his feet. Sonic and Falkner's Pidgeot quickly did the same. Muk was tough. It was able to take hits and dish them back out surprisingly well. But there were three of them. It couldn't defeat three of them. Zephyr cawed. Sonic cawed. Falkner's Pidgeot cawed. Then they attacked again. Winter watched, her hands sweating, as her pokémon battled on with the giant sludge pile. Eevee stuck its head out between her legs, and watched as the fight took place. Winter looked down at it. "What are you doing down there?" She asked it. Her voice had failed to sound adoring, mainly because of the fight that was going on around her, but she had tried. Eevee shivered fearfully. Winter bent down and picked him up in her arms. She held him in front of her like a tiny scared puppy. Eevee mewed cowardly.

"Is he okay?" Zephyr asked, concerned.

"Just a little scared." Winter told him.

"Eee!" Eevee protested fearfully. Winter stroked its forehead.

"You can do this." She told him, trying to smile. Eevee shook its head defiantly. Its whole body was shaking violently. Winter sighed. "Look, I'm scared too." She told him. "I'm practically running on fumes. But we have to be brave. If we aren't then the bad men will just kill us, and we'll die cowards." This didn't seem to be working. Eevee was trying to shrink away into its own skin.

"Does he have a name?" Falkner asked randomly. Winter looked at him.

"No." She admitted. "I couldn't think of one."

"Maybe giving him one would help his confidence." Falkner suggested. He looked up to the sky. The sun was falling behind the horizon, and in its place the moon was rising on the opposite side of the sky. The solar rays of light that illuminated the world were being replaced by lunar rays of blue light. Falkner hummed. "What about Luna?" He suggested suddenly.

"Luna?" Winter repeated. She looked at the little dog/cat/fox pokémon in her arms. "I suppose it's a good enough name." She smiled at the little pokémon. "Would you like to be called Luna?" She asked him. Eevee seemed to stop shrinking into itself suddenly. Its little eyes gained a small amount of confidence.

With a less fearful purr, it said "Eevee!" And smiled back at its trainer.

"Then it's settled." Winter said with a happy smile. "Now, go on. You can do it, Luna. Go show that Muk who's boss." She placed the small pokémon on the ground. The eevee suddenly seemed a surprising amount more confident than it had been. Its fluffy tail flicked behind it's back. It scraped its feet across the ground, kicking up a small amount of dust. And then suddenly it ran at the Muk, a new found confidence in its body. It turned out that giving the small thing a name had made it feel more comfortable around Winter, thus making it more confident in battling. The little creature sped across the ground, and quick attacked the giant pile of sludge. Muk was surprisingly hurt by this attack. It wasn't easy to tell if this was because Eevee's attack had been so strong, or if it was because the pidgeot dive bomb attack a few seconds before had left it open and bruised. Either way, Muk was hurt. It was also angry. It began flailing about, swinging its arms at the birds flying around it. One of them was unlucky enough to fly in the way. Zephyr hit the ground a few feet back, coughing with his injuries. "No!" Winter cried.

"Keep it back, Pidgeot!" Falkner cried. His pidgeot did its best to press Muk back, but the sentient sludge creature was enraged now. It began hurling more attacks at the birds, even going so far as to expand its mouth and try to swallow one of them.

Eevee glanced back at his trainer, and saw the concern in her eyes. She was afraid for her pokémon's safety, a true concern that it had never seen before. She loved it, beyond a simple friendship form of love. More like a parental love, that Eevee had never been given a chance to see before. And now that it did, it suddenly realised something. That same love she showed Zephyr, she also showed it. He hadn't been able to pin point what it was till now, but suddenly it understood completely. It turned back to the Muk, who was still swatting at the birds, and from his tiny mouth a vicious growl emerged. It was like the mixture of a cats hiss with a dog's bark, but more high pitch. Its claws emerged from its front paws, and the little pokémon charged. Muk saw it coming, and laughed as it saw it his. But soon it realised that its laughter was poorly placed.

The rays of the moon's light struck Luna as he ran. And suddenly his body was washed with dark coloured light. His whole skin was shaded midnight black. And his body expanded to twice the size. His tail became an oval, as did his ears, and his feet became long and slim. Small golden rings appeared around certain limbs, mainly his tail and ears again. His eyes grew larger and turned yellow. And when the light faded, the transformation was complete. The newly evolved and newly confident umbreon charged at the opponent Muk, and struck it in the body with a fading pursuit attack. The large slime ball recoiled, the attack winding it instantly. It collapsed flat, its arms dissolving into its body once more. And the birds finished it off.

Proton backed away, true fear in his eyes. "How!?" He exclaimed. "How!? How did you defeat me again?!" He stumbled back, but found that he was unable to take any steps further back. Something large and furry was standing behind him. Slowly his head turned. Arco the Arcanine was standing proudly on his four massive feet, glaring evilly at the commander. Proton's lip wobbled. "Nice dog." He muttered, holding his hands up in surrender. Walker Glende stepped up beside Arco, a stern grin on his face.

"Having a bit of trouble, are we?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the cornered commander. Arco growled, flickers of flame escaping from the edge of his gritted mouth. Commander Proton found that his feet were rooted firmly to the spot. A few more of Walker's pokémon showed up, specifically Thumper and Carter, who were his hard hitters. They seemed excited to beat up an unlucky Rocket. Proton was probably going to end up as their punching bag.

"Stay back, you… commoners!" He exclaimed, clearly not thinking through his words. "I am a rocket commander! If you so much as dare lay a finger on me our leader will destroy you all!"

Walker scoffed. "Archer only helps those who work for him, and do so efficiently." He explained. "And you think he'd give one damn about you if you failed to defeat one trainer?"

"He'll still crush you!" Proton shouted. "He and Terranius will wipe this city from the earth!"

"Oh shut up already!" Walker muttered. "Arco, Thumper, Carter, do with him what you want." It was at these words the commander acted. He pulled out a knife and ran at the man, screaming.

"Die, Glende!" But as he rushed to attack the greying haired man, he was stopped by a gangly brown form. Carter had jumped in his way. The hitmonlee swung a lanky leg around and swiped the commander's legs out from under him. Proton landed on his side, wincing. He tried to crawl away, but Carter's foot caught with his right hand, pressing it into the tarmac and making him drop the knife. The hitmonlee's arms then wrapped themselves around the commander's neck, hoisting him up by the chin. Proton attempted to struggle out of the grip, but Carter wasn't letting go. He had him in an unbreakable headlock.

"Save it for the police." Walker told, stepping up beside the commander and tying up his hands. "You're under arrest."

Luna rushed over to his trainer's side once more. Winter embraced him and scooped him up in her arms.

"I'm so proud of you." She cooed, hugging the larger umbreon in her arms. Luna purred back in adoration. The flock of Pidgeot had dispersed once more. Zephyr was perched next to Winter, watching with an expressionless face.

"I'm probably needed elsewhere." Falkner stated quickly, with a small friendly smile. "Team Rocket are still going. We may be able to win this after all."

And then there was an explosion.

* * *

Joe, Lugia and Ralph glanced down to the ground. Something had just gone up in a blast of force. From their perspective it didn't take long to pick up what it was. Someone had blown up a house, one of the ones right next to the city wall. Someone, probably one of the rocket grunts, had just blown the structure up, sending the roof and bits of the walls flying upwards. Where the house had been was now just a standing pile of rubble.

 _'_ _What was that?'_ Lugia asked.

"Team Rocket, I think." Joe told him. He couldn't see through the smoke escaping from the new ruin, but faintly, for a split second, he could have sworn he saw someone wearing black.

"Cro." Ralph said with concern. Joe glanced at him, seeing his concerned expression. As much as Joe wanted to go and help his friends, he knew he couldn't. Lugia would most likely need him, and Terranius probably would swat them from the sky the second the tried to fly away.

"We don't have time to help them." Joe stated simply. "We have to bring Terranius down. If we don't, then Team Rocket will have won anyway." Lugia and Ralph nodded in agreement. The large white dragon sped up, using its massive arm wings to propel it forwards once more.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket were getting more and more aggressive. They'd already lost one commander, but that news had just made them angry. Many of the trainers were now finding that the grunts they had been winning against had suddenly pulled out a new, much stronger attitude from their pockets and started fighting back. Slowly the tides were starting to change, becoming once more directed towards the path of Team Rocket. Cheng had barely managed to avoid the explosion. He landed on his side, coughing as the dust and smoke took up to the air. A small lizard arm held down towards him, and he smiled back and took it. He wiped the dust from his clothes.

"Thank you, Cinders." He said. Cinders the charizard bowed his respect back. Though he had once been one of the pokémon trying to stop Cheng and his men, the giant fire breathing lizard had found a new respect for him that had come from traveling with the man for over a month. He seemed to have changed, quite a bit in fact. He was kinder then he had been, friendlier, more respectable. Cheng turned and stared into the smoke. And deep in it he saw something move. "There's people in that house." He realised. Cinders grunted in agreement. He could smell them, and they didn't smell good. He growled, small embers flickering from his nostrils. Without another word the man had jumped into the new ruin, barely thinking for a second about putting himself in danger. Cinders followed after him.

The ex-commander of team rocket covered his mouth with a sleeve. The smoke was dense inside. But he didn't turn back. He knew who was in here. And sure enough he bumped into them. After several seconds of traversing the smoky exploded building Cheng bumped into a figure wearing the white suit and hat of a team rocket commander. His purple hair was the most obvious part of him though. Commander Petrel growled.

"You!" He stated in surprise, spitting his words with spite. His hands clenched and unclenched. "What are you doing here? You quit Team Rocket!"

"That's right." Cheng agreed with a smile. "And now I'm back to help stop you!"

"You traitor!" Petrel hissed. He reached for a pokeball.

"Not today!" Cheng said quickly. From the smoke behind him something grumbled. Two massive green vines shot through the smoke and grabbed Petrel's arm, wrapping around it tight. The commander exclaimed in surprise. The vines slapped his hand, knocking the pokeball from it, then yanked him forwards with a powerful tug. The purple haired man stumbled forwards, when Cinders got to deal with him. The large lizard swung its tail around, swiping the commander's feet out from under him. Cheng stood over the commander like a rising skyscraper. The commander backed away.

"It's not just me!" Petrel stated. "There's other commanders! They'll get you for this!"

"I'm sure they'll try." Cheng agreed. "But right now, you should be more concerned about yourself." Petrel gulped. A second later he was being thrown out of the building head first. He struck the ground and rolled, eventually falling limp and still at the edge of the pavement. A few grunts stopped and looked at the man, then they ran away to the hills.

Cheng stepped out from the smoke. Petrel lay unconscious on the road, unmoving. A few free policemen was already moving to arrest him. The commander was done for. Cheng smiled. The man had been all bark and no bite. He's just blabbered on, rather than try to fight him of at the start. That was where Team Rocket commanders failed as trainers. They always tried to talk big before fighting big. He looked around the fight. Things seemed to be waning of. At least half the grunts were out now, or had run away to escape their inevitable doom. But the other half were still fighting on like rabid beasts. The stronger grunts especially were proving to be very tough. But somehow the trainers and police officers were managing to push them back. It was a slow process, one you couldn't see with the naked eye, but if you'd been able to see the progress over time you would definitely spot that gradually the city was winning. Cheng smiled to himself. There was still a chance they'd win this. It all depended on Joe and his team, and if they could manage to bring the titan down.

Subconsciously Cheng glanced to his right. And from the corner of his eye he saw a small group of people move in the distance. He turned to look. Archer and his remaining commander were moving towards the radio tower. Cheng growled. Somehow the man had managed to sneak around the fight. And why was he heading to the radio tower? What good could he get from going there? As Cheng watch the commander ordered his two grunts to guard the door. They did so with a simple nod, while he and his last commander walked inside. Cheng knew instantly that he had no choice. He was going to have to go after him. But not with his pokémon.

"I'm sorry guys." Cheng said, turning around. Cinders and his other pokémon, which had turned out to be a large male venusaur called Pitt, looked at him confused. "There's something I need to do by myself." He stated. "But listen. Find Walker and Joe. Tell them where I am. Send them to help if I should fail." Pitt and Cinders nodded, looking sad. Cheng patted their shoulders. "It was fun travelling with you two." He said. "Thank you for giving me a chance." Then he was off, rushing towards the tower with surprising haste. The two starter pokémon could only watch him run away, unsure what the madman had in mind.

"Hydro Pump!" Joe called. Lugia fired another hydro pump. This attack hit Terranius on the shoulder. The giant groaned and creaked. It was being hurt, but it wasn't showing any signs of tiring. And it was getting tougher to fly around the back of it. It knew of its own weakness, and was refusing to let either party get close enough to attack it. Clare appeared on the opposite side of the dragon, looking tired out. Dragonite seemed to be huffing, struggling to keep up its speed.

"This thing isn't going down!" She called across.

"Keep going!" Joe called back. "We nearly have it. We just need another second." Suddenly he felt his bag begin to shake and move. Casey's head popped out from the open zip, looking around in confusion. He had just woken up again. "Oh not now." Joe muttered to himself. As he did so he heard Casey begin to start sobbing. "Please not now." He turned back. "Casey." He said in an attempted parental voice. Casey had already begun to bawl. Streams of tears were flowing down his eyes. The rush of the wind and the roar of the air were scaring him. His tiny ears had popped from the pressure and he wasn't able to comprehend what was going on around him. Joe sighed. He was stressed out with the fight, and now Casey was crying. He didn't know what to do.

 _'_ _Is everything okay back there?'_ Lugia asked.

"Yeah." Joe lied. "Just keep attacking it, okay!"

 _'_ _Alright.'_ Lugia flew around for another attack, making a small turn as he did so.

"And keep us steady please!" Joe added, sounding unintentionally angry. He turned back to Casey. Ralph was trying to sooth him, risking his own stability by releasing his grip with one wing and patting the baby togepi on the head. Casey wasn't calming down however. He was still very stressed out by what was happening. There was a loud explosion as Lugia blasted Terranius again, and the giant roared back in fury. Casey began to scream. "Shhhh!" Joe hushed. "It's okay, buddy. It's okay." Casey stopped screaming and looked up at his foster father, his eyes bulging with tears. "You're safe." Joe told him with a desperate smile. "You're going to be perfectly…"

'LOOK OUT!' Lugia screamed suddenly. Joe and Ralph glanced forwards. Terranius's fist was flying straight towards them. Lugia had dodged one attack, only to flight straight into the other. And now they were doomed to impact into the giant. Joe's instincts took over. He grabbed Ralph, grabbed his bag and held on tight. A second later they were flung from Lugia's back, falling through the air like loosened rocks from a cliff. Lugia himself crumpled like wet paper as Terranius's massive fist struck him in the chest. The great dragon was thrown backwards, spiralling and falling through the air weakly. He tried to turn in the air, and when he finally did he spun around and flew after the falling human.

Joe felt the air rush past him. It was so sharp, so strong, in a way he'd never felt before. He'd skydived from Ralph once before, but this was different. Back then, he'd been safe. Ralph had been able to grab him again. But Ralph was currently falling with him, several miles above the ground. They plummeted together, the ground growing closer every second, and all the time Joe's mouth hung open in a silent scream. He held on tight to his bag, desperate to keep it close to him. But the bag was not as strong as he'd hoped. The zip snapped and ripped away as the force of the wind caught the teeth, and suddenly the lid was pulled back. Casey rose out of the bag slowly like an angel being taken up to heaven. His lack of weight meant that he was falling slower than Joe and Ralph were.

"NO!" Joe cried. He grabbed out to catch Casey, his bag straps catching around his arms as he did so and tangling up around them. His caught up hands only ended up batting the tiny egg pokémon away. Casey flew out of reach of the trainer, lifted up by his light body that caught against the wind yet still falling like a colourful bouncy ball towards an inevitable splatting. "CASEY!" Joe screamed. The togepi's cries grew fainter as Joe fell further and further away. In desperation to stop falling the boy began to flap his arms. But it was no use. He wasn't a bird or a bad. He didn't have wings. Ralph finally unfurled himself, recovering from the impact, and with barely a second of reaction time he sped down after the trainer, wings falling in and speeding like a meteorite towards the earth. Both he and the legendary Lugia were flying very fast, but Joe was already so far ahead of them. He was barely a mile away from the ground now, and he wasn't slowing. Joe closed his eyes, resigning himself to the inevitable.

Casey watched from far above as he tumbled and rotated through the air. There was nothing he could do, nothing at all that would save his trainer from his fate. Tears began to fall from his eyes. He felt so sad, so sorrowful at the idea of losing the boy who had basically acted as his father since day one on this planet. And then suddenly he felt a small spark of emotion at the back of his mind. For no reason at all, he suddenly felt joy. Joy at everything he had experience in his time with Joe. He remembered everything he'd seen, everything he'd done. He remembered the first time he'd opened his eyes. Joe had been there, looking down at him with a massive happy grin. And Ralph too. Ralph had been there beside him, looking amazed by the new life in front of him. And then he remembered other times. The time that Ralph had rocked him to sleep. The time he'd watched Silver take on a bunch of Rocket grunts when the day care was under attack. The time Joe had introduced Casey to his uncle through a flashing square thingy at a desk. The time Joe had let him fight in a gym battle, and not only had he won, he'd done using a super powerful move. The time he'd met Tom, Joe's friend from Kanto. The time they'd been caught up in a net in a team rocket attack and he'd helped them get out. He remembered so much about his experience as a trainer pokémon, and that had all happened in a few weeks. When he thought of his friends he felt happy. He felt overjoyed to know all of them. Bust most of all he felt a deep glowing happiness when he thought of Joe. His father. And now his father was falling to his death. Casey knew that there was some way he could save him. Deep down he knew he could do it. He just didn't know how. And that's when he realised that he was suddenly glowing. His shell had begun to crack, and he could feel his body changing shape. The tiny togepi smiled. 'Ah.' He thought. 'So this is how I'll save him.'

Lugia flew in to grab Joe as he fell, but the boy was falling so fast. And then he noticed something glowing speed past him downwards. The legendary dragon gasped open mouthed in amazement. A sphere of light was flying after the boy, moving faster than anything he'd ever seen before. 'What in the name of Arceus…!' He exclaimed. But the light ignored his words of surprise. It flew downwards on glowing tiny wings, tiny arms outstretched to grab.

Casey had never felt so alive, nor had he ever felt so happy before in his entire life. Granted his life so far had been rather short, but there was no way he could ever feel better than this. He was alive, finally he was truly awake. This was the reason he was alive. This was happiness. This was tangible, authentic, paternal love, the kind that no businessman, tax official or politician could ever feel. And it was his fuel, his source of energy. It gave him speed. It gave him confidence. It gave him power. The ball of light blasted past Ralph, who exclaimed in surprise. The rush of wind from the speeding light made his skin ripple and wash. He watched wide eyed as Casey flew towards Joe to save him, out-speeding a fully grown crobat to do so.

Joe didn't know what happened. All he knew is that one second he was falling, then something grabbed him by the arms and then he wasn't falling. He slowed down, the air around him becoming more motionless as he stopped his descent.

"What the…" He muttered in confusion. He had been certain he was going to die. Yet something had stopped him. He looked up. Casey's grinning face smiled back at him. There was a light glowing around him, shrouding his body. And then, to Joe's growing surprise, Casey began to fly back upwards. Joe had no idea what was happening, but he was so grateful for it. "Casey?" He asked, confused.

"Togi!" Casey cried back, but in a slightly deeper voice. It was still high pitched, but less squeaky in tone. It was as if Casey had passed puberty. In fact that was pretty much what had happened. The light began to fade, finally revealing Casey's body once more. And when he could see it Joe finally realised why he was flying. Casey now had wings. They were small and angelic, but they were clearly strong as Casey was able to keep flying while holding him. And he was flying quite quickly too. But the wings weren't the only new thing about him. His shell was gone. Casey had literally outgrown his shell now. Instead he had a large plump body, with two small arms and to aerodynamic feet. His face was attached now to an egg shaped head with a spiked back that loomed from a long thin neck attached to his collar. The newly evolved Casey smiled down at his trainer, looking happier than any living creature possibly could. Joe smiled up at him amazed.

"Well done, buddy!" He called. "I'm so proud of you!" Casey smiled back, feeling loved. As the two of them rose up again into the air Ralph reached them, falling to a gliding halt beside the human and Togetic pair. He took a few seconds to take in Casey's new form. When he did he made a very surprised face, like a slightly mad aunty who had just seen her nephew after fifteen years only to discover that he's not only grown a lot but is now twenty, lives on his own and has a mortgage. Joe noticed him and chuckled. "How you doing, Ralph?" Joe asked in a joking manner. "Well, Casey evolved." He chuckled, glancing up at his half egg half angel pokémon that was lifting him up. Ralph returned his grin with his own mixture of pride and surprise.

Casey stopped flying upwards, and then lowered Joe onto Ralph's back. The two of them were a little taken aback at first because they didn't know what he was doing, but quickly they realised and adjusted themselves once more. It had been quite a while since Joe had flown on Ralph's back. Hopefully he was still able to take his weight. As was Ralph seemed capable of flying with the young trainer sitting in his spine. He grunted a little, but coped. And now Lugia showed up, flying past the three of them as he turned up at the scene. His massive wings created gusts of air that made Joe's hair and his pokémon's skin ripple with its force.

 _'_ _The Titan still stands!'_ He shouted as he passed. _'It is good you are still alive, but we need to keep fighting!'_

"Are you okay, Lugia?" Joe called. "That giant hit you pretty hard."

 _'_ _I am fine!'_ Lugia said, sounding a little tired but still honest. _'This fight cannot go on much longer. The sun has fallen already. We need to end it now, or Terranius will destroy this whole city in its sleep.'_

Joe looked down at Ralph, who in turn looked back up at him. An idea seemed to pop into his head. "Lugia, Ralph and I are going to see if we can strike its weak spot. Could you keep attacking it for us so that it's distracted?"

Lugia nodded royally, its long neck flexing strongly. _'I will do my best to keep its eye on me!'_ He told him. And with a powerful turn and a mighty gust of wind the massive dragon flew away, sky blue light forming in its mouth. A second later it blasted Terranius in the side of the head. The great rock titan tottered for a second, before roaring and swinging at the white dragon. Lugia dodged it gracefully.

Joe smiled at his pokémon. "Are you ready for this?" He asked.

"Cro!" Ralph said with a massive grin.

"Tic!" Casey stated, also grinning.

Joe grinned back at them. "Okay then." He pumped a fist. "Let's do this! Ralph, fly us to the giant's back!" Ralph nodded, and a second later they were off, flying quickly through the low air like predatory birds on the hunt. Casey followed after them, staying close and surprisingly able to keep up. As a group they attacked, flocking together and speeding towards the massive rock beast.

Terranius was currently distracted by Lugia, who had just blasted it in the side of the head with another aeroblast attack. Currently it was attempting to smash him with its head, but Lugia was luckily too fast for it. Clare was also trying to attack it, searching for more weak spots along its body, but being unable to find them. Terranius barely payed attention to her however, as Lugia was the much more powerful and more obvious target to shoot at. And thankfully the titan had its back to Joe and Ralph, as they flew in to attack. It hadn't seen them yet, and this gave them a chance to strike its Achilles heel.

"Casey, I need you protect us!" Joe stated. "If any attack should come our way warn us or try to stop it. Can you do that?" Casey nodded sternly. "If you spot any more weak spots let us know." Joe added.

"Togi!" Casey said confidently. Joe patted Ralph's head.

"Alright buddy!" Joe said as they came up to the giant. "You know what to do?" Ralph nodded. "Then take us in!" Joe shouted. "Attack it where it's vulnerable!" Ralph flew off, his wings folding in and speeding towards the titan's head. He flew in under it and struck with his wings, just under where the head and shoulders joined. Terranius screamed. It flinched as its body rippled and cracked. Ralph's simple attack had been strong enough to do this. A full on power attack could cripple it in seconds. "Pull back!" Joe cried. Ralph shot backwards, avoiding the turning swing of the giant. Its massive hammer swung down, striking the air only a few metres away from the trio. Casey had flown in front of them, using his metronome to form a protect shield just in case. But thankfully its attack missed them.

But Terranius had made the biggest mistake it ever could have. It had turned its back to Lugia. The white dragon gathered water, and fired it as a hydro pump attack. The cannoned torrent struck it in the back of the head, causing the pyramid shape to wobble disjointedly. Terranius roared again. Slowly it turned to attack. But it was unable to land a hit. Lugia had changed his tactic. The large sea dragon sped towards Terranius's eye and landed, his large fingered wings gripping the rock around it. He glared into the giant's massive eye, and the giant glared back. It roared in fury, trying to shake him off. But Lugia wouldn't move. Blue watery light gathered in its mouth once more.

'Go back to the earth!' He roared, and fired. The hydro pump struck Terranius straight in the eye. The giant screamed, louder than it ever had before. Its cry shook buildings and moved the earth. Its eye began to bleed, the force of the attack pressuring it in ways an eye should not be pressured. But while Lugia was performing this attack it left Terranius open from behind. Now Joe had a shot at attacking it once more.

"Are you ready, Ralph?" He asked. Ralph nodded. "Ready Casey." Casey nodded also. Joe rose a fist to the air. "Then let's end this." They took of once more, flying at even greater speeds. Ralph knew what to do. He knew where he was aiming. Casey grabbed hold of the crobat's back as they gained speed, going faster than they ever had before. Joe lowered his head to keep the wind out of his eyes. "Keep going, Ralph!" He cried. Ralph sped up, getting faster and faster with every second. And then they were within reach of the giant. But Ralph didn't slow down. He adjusted himself, as if aiming an arrow to hit a distant moving target, and then he fired. The giant purple back struck Terranius in the soft area of rock under its skull, causing the area to break apart. And then something amazing happened. Ralph shot through the titan's neck, reappearing out the other side in a cloud of rock dust.

Terranius fell silent. Its eye stared of into space, ignoring the white dragon clinging onto it. Rock pieces continued to fall away from underneath its head. The wound Ralph had made was so deep that you see the other side of the sky through it. The titan's arms fell limp at its side. Small cracks began to appear in its skin. Slowly it began to tilt back. Lugia let go, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Terranius's legs fell weak, unable to balance its massive head any longer. And then it fell, rocking backwards and plummeting to the earth. As it did so its body ripped apart, cracking like dry clay in the sun. Its arms dissolved away, its torso fell into many rock pieces, and its legs turned as hard as stone and then broke up into tiny chunks. Its eye hole began to glow, blasting blinding white light from its socket. And then it was gone, the massive stone door eyelids closing shut once more. What was left of the titan struck the earth, destroying a few more unlucky buildings as it did so. The only thing left was its head, which had returned into looking like its original stagnant stone pyramid. And that was the end of it. Terranius, the great destroyer, was defeated once more.

* * *

 **Yeah, I'm sorry this chapter was so long and so late in the making. Like I said, life gets in the way sometimes. I'd also like to apologies for the fact that the whole battle takes place in this chapter pretty much. I originally wanted it to go over several chapters, but when thinking up the ideas for the chapters I realised that I actually didn't have enough. To keep my stories from going on too long I usually set myself a limit of chapters. For the Crobat Chronicles I've limited myself to around 40-42 chapters, and the last few of them will be Elite Four battles, of course. So yeah, sorry that there isn't more chapters on this battle, but hopefully you understand. My excuse isn't a good one I agree, but sadly I had to cut something out to reach the limit. I'll admit there was more I wanted to add to this fight, but I've just run out of time and space to do so. Hopefully the amount I did put in it makes up for my failure to make more chapters on this battle. It might not, but hopefully you still enjoyed it all the same. And the fight isn't exactly over yet. Team Rocket still need to be stopped.**

 **But if you want to read that... you'll have to wait for the next chapter! (winky face emoji)**


	35. Chapter 35: The Last Confrontation

**I would just like to quickly say thank you all for waiting for this chapter. This is the last chapter that will have Team Rocket in it. This is where the war ends. There won't be a note at the end of this chapter. I want to leave it a poignant as I can. But all the same, I hope you enjoy it and keep reading on even after this chapter. There will be more stuff to come after, but not to do with this plot point.**

 **Thank you all for reading this far.**

 **J out.**

* * *

As the dust settled the scene became visible to the bystanders bellow. Everything had stopped the second they heard the explosion. Every battle that had been taking place had pause to turn and look at wat had caused such a sound. Everyone looked up at the giant. And then the giant fell apart. Its head fell to earth, causing a small earthquake as it impacted. Several houses were crushed, others fell apart from the impact. Some were smashed up by the falling remains of rock that had been Terranius's body a few seconds before. A cloud of earth and cement shot up around the impacted shape. And when it settled there was nothing more than a silent pyramid left stationed in the middle of the city. Its doors were closed, locked to never be opened again by human hands.

The people began to crowd around it, amazed that such a thing could exist. There was an empty silence from the crowd. And then there was an elated cheer. Every citizen, trainer and police officer cried in relief as they realised that their biggest threat, the great destroyer, had just been defeated once and for all. There were several woops of delight, followed by many encores and cried of happiness. Friends hugged, couples kissed, trainer's high fived one another, officers threw their weapons aside only to pick them up again a minute later. Everyone celebrated, relieved and thankful that they had been given the right to live another day. The only people who weren't celebrating were the Rockets. Many grunts seemed to be scattered around the city, and all of them had a face of realised horror. Slowly, one by one, they all began to back away, suddenly realising not only how afraid they were but also how small they were. Here was a mass of people, who had somehow pulled down their secret weapon. It quickly hit their minds just how in trouble they were, and how bad this idea had been. The 'smarter' grunts had run instantly, sprinting for the hills as fast as their battered boots would take them. But the fewer brave grunts continued their fight, putting up a puny defence in a desperate hope to still take the city. This was a poor decision. They had no commanders left to lead them. Two of them had been imprisoned already, the other two had disappeared during the fight. And on top of that the awe inspired crowed was starting tut run into a furious mob. The audience of trainers and policemen were starting to remember that there were still a few grunts remaining. They turned on their heels, angry expressions on their faces as they spotted the men in black. The remaining conscious rocket grunts tried to look menacing again, but because they were so afraid they didn't succeed. The fighting continued again, except this time it was only ever going to end one way. With a sea of black clothed bodies being shoved into a prison cell.

Joe landed a few metres away from the restarting battle, stumbling as his feet touched the floor and his body tried to continue forwards without him. Ralph flew up beside him and perched on the air, closely followed by Casey who had tailed them back to the earth. The trio looked up at the pyramid. The massive rock doors stood directly in front of him. Joe knew what they were now, and he knew that if anyone asked him to open them again he'd refuse outright. He turned to his pokémon and smiled.

"Considering what just happened I suppose I should be glad I'm still alive." He muttered, a small smile on his face. "And I kind of am." He admitted. "But it doesn't feel great. That thing was tough."

 _'_ _It took our ancestors years to destroy that monster the first time.'_ Lugia told him, landing beside the trainer and his team, using his wings as forearms. _'Consider yourself lucky that we resolved it much quicker.'_ Joe nodded in agreement.

"I guess." He agreed. Joe turned to the legendary. "It's dead then?" He asked.

Lugia shook his head. _'No.'_ He said simply. _'You cannot kill and immortal being.'_ Joe looked concerned.

"Then it might come back!" He said, a rising panic in his voice.

 _'_ _One day.'_ Lugia agreed. _'But not any day soon. I imagine it will sleep in that shell for another thousand years yet… before another idiot tries to awaken it once more.'_

Joe realised that this made him feel quite depressed. "Is there anything we can do to stop that happening?" He asked. Lugia looked at him.

 _'_ _We legendries buried it under the earth itself, in a ruin no one knew of or could explore for the longest time.'_ A smile appeared on its face. _'But there is something I can do.'_ The white dragon crawled on his large wings towards the pyramid. He stopped in front of its massive doors, looking up at them as they loomed above him. Its eye was shut once again, and hopefully it would never get the chance to reopen. The white dragon took in a breath. His skull glowed slightly with white energy. And when he breathed out the air from his lungs glistened with a heavenly glow. The energy forming from it tapped into the rock, causing it too to glow. The light spread up the doors, touched the stone brick shell and began to grow around that. With each passing second the pyramid became engulfed in light. Every inch of it was glowing like a dim light bulb. And then the light fully encased it. A few seconds later there was a faint glittering sound, the kind you'd imagine stars would make if they ever fell from the sky. The pyramid began to shrink, falling by at least a layer of bricks every second. Within a minute the area it had crushed was visible once more, laid out like a flattened crater pancake. Any residue of any buildings or city structure had been compressed into a pile of colour and materials, no longer usable to any sentient species. The only thing you could possibly do with it is clear it away like a respectable citizen. And at the centre of the crater was the pyramid. Joe walked towards it and picked it up in one hand. It was so small now, and so light too. He could hold it with ease in just his right hand. He looked at it. The eyelid doors were so much smaller. He tried to imagine how the whole titan would have looked at this size. It made him chuckle. And then a thought struck him.

"Why couldn't you do this during the fight?" He asked. Lugia chuckled.

 _'_ _Doesn't work like that.'_ He explained.

"Why not?" Joe asked. His experience with Legendries and questioned had left him suspicious of their answers, and rightfully so. Gods had a habit of not letting mortals know about their plans.

 _'_ _Because I can't just make a living being smaller. That would be ridiculous.'_ Lugia chuckled. _'And even if I could do that do, you think I'd have gotten the chance to use it?'_ Joe thought about it. He remembered how much Terranius had swung about in their battle, and realised that the white dragon was probably right.

"What should I do with it?" Joe asked, lifting the small stone pyramid up in his hand.

Lugia blinked slowly. _'Throw it into the sea.'_ He stated sternly. _'Let it sink like a stone to the pits of the ocean. It is the only way we can truly keep it out of human hands.'_

Joe looked at the pile of fixed stone in his hands. If he hadn't seen it at its full size he would have thought nothing it. He'd have just assumed it was a child's lost toy, or a silly little trinket from an oddity gift store. He wondered how it would look on a pedestal in an antique shop. He imagined people would pass it buy and not suspect anything, and some day some tycoon with pockets of money would buy it and put it with his collection. But the fact was, he had seen it before. He'd seen its true form, seen the monster that had grown from under it. He couldn't allow that to return. If he let this thing remain visible to humanity then chances were someone would find a way to awaken it again. He just couldn't let it happen again. He'd been lucky to stop it so quickly this time, but he might not be so lucky the second time. Terranius was not your usual kind of monster. Most people thought that in order to destroy the world you'd have to be some kind of seriously mad criminal genius, like Archer thought he was. But Terranius was no smart creature. It couldn't even speak, but if given the chance it'd wipe a whole region of the map with a simple swing of its hammer. No, it wasn't brains that destroyed cities. It wasn't brains that killed thousands. In the end of the day it was the brawn before those brains that did that. And if you gave a man like Archer the reigns to a beast like Terranius then he could destroy anything he wanted to. That was what was so scary about this being. Terranius was nothing more than a gigantic unthinking husk, set on a simple task of world destruction. And it would never stop, not till the last atom of the planet was smashed in half by its hand. Joe knew he had to do it. For the sake of everything that is and everything that would be, it had to be buried. He turned back to Lugia.

"I'll do as you ask." He told him. Lugia bowed back.

 _'_ _Thank you, human.'_ He stated proudly. _'I am proud to have fought alongside you.'_

"As am I." Joe said, slightly solemnly. He turned to Ralph and Casey. "Come on, you two. We should get to work." He said. He ran off, Ralph and Casey following close behind him. Lugia meanwhile watched them go. Then he took of once more, flying around the city and looking out for any situation that needed his help.

Joe reached the pier to the west of the city. The oceanic winds hit him with a cool breeze as he approached, carrying the light stone pyramid in his arms. Quickly he reached the metal railing and looked down into the water. It looked deep enough to lose something small. He tested the weight of the pyramid in his arms. It felt heavy enough to sink. He didn't wait to think about his actions. With a finally look at the pyramid he pulled his arm back and hurled it away. The four sided 3D shape travelled a few metres before gravity pulled it down to a watery grave. The remains of Terranius's head sunk into the ocean, disappearing from sight like a skipping stone at the end of its journey. Joe sighed. It was over. The titan was gone once and for all. It would never come back to trouble anyone again… hopefully.

Joe sighed with relief. It was over finally. They had won the fight. He felt weird about it. He was relieved, but at the same time he felt like he'd lost something. It was as if his whole vendetta against Team Rocket had literally been a part of him, like a useless body organ that he didn't need. And now they were gone it felt as though a surgeon had removed that organ, and he was beginning to miss it. The sea water rippled a deep blue in the light of the moon, and the cold oceanic breeze passed through his unprotected hair. Ralph and Casey joined him, leaning against the railing and looking out to the distance of the world. What other regions lay out there? What other people? He hoped that none of them would be like Team Rocket. He heard running footsteps from a distance behind him. And then a voice he recognised called out his name.

"Joe!" The female voice shouted. Joe turned, and when he saw who it was he smiled.

"Winter!" He cried back. Winter was running towards him, a massive thankful smile on her face. Her long ginger hair was wailing in the wind. A pokémon followed behind her. It was barely visible in the dark of the night, but Joe could just make out the umbreon that was running beside her. The second she reached her friend Winter hugged him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders like a strong sentient vine. Joe recoiled a little from the force of her friendship.

"You're alright!" She exclaimed, hugging him in her arms. Joe smiled and hugged her back.

"Of course I'm alright." He told her. "It's me we're talking about here."

Winter laughed at him. "That's exactly why I was worried." She chuckled jokingly. She pulled away from the hug, her arms still gripping Joe's shoulders. "We saw you fall." She told him, her eyes showing concern. "The giant hit you right of Lugia's back!"

"I'm okay, honestly." Joe told her, his arms falling to his sides as the hug finished up. "Casey and Ralph saved me." Winter looked at the Togetic at Joe's side.

"So Casey's evolved finally?" She asked. Casey nodded for his trainer.

"Togi-Tic!" He exclaimed proudly, holding his head up high. Joe smiled and patted the happiness pokémon on the back.

"Yeah." Joe told her. "And at the nick of time too. If he didn't I'd be not much more than a pancake by now." Winter chuckled at him.

"It's a good thing he did then." She agreed.

"Winter, is he okay?!" Another voice shouted from somewhere behind them. The four heads turned. Silver was running towards them, a massive blue lizard by his side. And behind him ran Joe's uncle and the rocket grunt he and Winter had been stuck with in Archer's prison. Winter nodded back at the red-haired boy.

"He's okay!" She shouted to him. Silver reached them eventually, stopping for a second to get his breath back as he did so. He stood up straight again and nodded at Joe.

"How'd it go?" He asked.

Joe shrugged. "Pretty well." He told him sarcastically. "I won."

"Good." Silver said, panting. "Good to hear. That guy was a tough one."

Joe had to hold back a laugh. "You should try fighting him next time."

Silver batted a hand at him. "Nah, you're good." He said, grinning as he did so. Joe grinned back. "It's good you're okay, dude." He told him, walking forward and patting Joe on the shoulder roughly. "We were a bit worried for a while there." Joe nodded back at him.

"So it all went well down here?" He asked. Silver's smile dropped a little.

"Not exactly." He told him. "There were many casualties. On our side as much as theirs. But we're lucky to be alive still, and we've fought them off. They won't be back to cause trouble anymore."

"I'm afraid that it might not be as simple as that." Walker said as he arrived, hearing Silver's last words. They looked at him.

"What do you mean, Uncle?" Joe asked.

Walker looked solemn. "We did defeat Team Rocket, and their titan, but not all of their commanders were caught. We only stopped two of them. The other two are still out there."

"And one of the ones we caught wasn't Archer, was it?" Joe asked, suddenly realising what his uncle was saying. Walker shook his head.

"No." He agreed. "We only have Proton and Petrel. Ariana and her boss escaped somewhere."

"If they escaped they could have already left the city by now." Silver muttered, also realising that their job was no longer over.

"I don't think they've done that yet." Danning told them. "I worked under Archer. Running isn't his thing. He'll have hold up somewhere he can defend with what few grunts he has left while he comes up with a new plan." Walker nodded in agreement.

"All we need to do is find him then." Winter said.

"I think I may already know where he is." Danning told them. Slowly he and Walker turned to face the radio tower. The three teenagers followed their stare.

"You think he's up there?" Silver asked.

"He is up there." Danning stated.

"How do you know that?" Joe asked.

Walker sighed. "Because your father is up there right now, trying to fight him."

Joe gasped. "My father?" He asked. Walker nodded. Joe looked back up at the tower. "Then we have to help him. He can't fight Archer by himself."

"Joe, he's up there fighting him so you don't have to." Walker told him. "He even abandoned his own pokémon so they wouldn't be hurt by him."

"He left Pitt and Cinders?" Joe repeated. "Where are they?"

"They're fine." Walker said. "I found them. They're safe in their pokeballs again. But they were the ones who told me where your father went."

"We can't just let him fight alone up there without any pokémon." Joe stated firmly. "We need to help him."

"He's right." Winter agreed, smiling at Joe. "It doesn't matter if he was a part of Team Rocket. He's tried to help us since then. We should help him."

"Archer will tear him to pieces if we don't." Silver agreed. He stood beside his two friends and companions. "I agree with them." Feraligatr nodded in strong agreement, as did Luna, Casey and Ralph.

"I think they're set on this, Walker." Danning said, turning the greying haired man. Walker nodded solemnly.

"You three do realise how dangerous this man is?" He asked, just to make sure.

Joe stared at his uncle. "We've been battling him for that last year." He reminded him. "We know what he's like. But I have to face him. His army is destroyed and his monster is gone. All he has left is a few grunts and a commander. And he's barricaded himself in just to keep himself away from us for a few minutes longer. I should be the one to stop him because I'm the one who's caused all his problems. It only seems right."

Walker sighed. Slowly a grin appeared on his face. "I wouldn't be able to change your mind even if I wanted to." He chuckled. He looked up at his nephew. "I don't mind you three trying to stop Archer, but you won't need to do so alone." He told the trio. "Me and Danning will stand beside you all the way." Danning nodded in agreement.

"You spared me from execution by those rats." He reminded them. "The least I can do is help you when you need it."

Joe smiled proudly at them. He was glad to have family and friends that believed in him so much. "Thank you, uncle." He said.

"It's nothing." Walker told him. "But we'd better get moving soon, before Archer either wins or finds a way to escape again."

* * *

The radio tower was the tallest building in the city. From there you could see out for miles across the region. Radio DJ's and presenters sent out their shows and messages across the radio waves, the large antennas and radio telescopes on the roof transmitting them to all receivers within several thousand miles. Joe had seen it in passing a few times, especially today as he'd been flying around the city. He'd never expected to be rushing to it on foot in hopes of stopping the leader of a criminal gang. He'd never expected to be stepping foot in it full stop. But as he ran towards the tall building, his pokémon and friends beside him, he realised that he his initial thoughts had been incorrect. They didn't take long getting to the doorway. The two large oak double doors were the only thing keeping them out, but that could soon change.

"Doesn't seem to be guarded." Joe said as he slowed to approach the building.

"I'd be careful all the same." Walker reminded him. "Archer may still have a few grunts left."

While Joe did take his uncles advice to heart he still went ahead with rushing inside. His thinking was that, if Archer did still have any grunts left, they'd probably be defending him on the roof. They wouldn't be right behind the door, waiting for him to rush in so they could grab him and throw him to the floor, keeping him down with a solid boot while the other grunts threatened his friends with guns. He at least didn't expect this as he approached the large doors with haste. He kicked it open with his foot and stormed in. A second later an arm grabbed him around the throat. Joe was not only pulled inside, he was also thrown across the room. He rolled for a few metres before wincing and looking up. A fat grunt had been standing behind the door, waiting for him to enter to do exactly what he hadn't expected. The grunt growled as he turned around to attack the boy. But he hadn't prepared for the eventuality of Ralph. The man sized and very strong crobat tackled the grunt, knocking him aside and out of the way. In seconds Ralph was by Joe's side, helping him up as the grunt tried to recover.

"Joe!" Winter shouted through the doorway, checking to see if her friend was okay. The grunt turned his head to the doorway, his machine gun raising up to point out to the night. Joe reacted quickly.

"Winter, don't come on!" He shouted. "He's got a gun!"

"Shut up, you pest!" The grunt roared in a slimy bloated tone. He cocked the gun and turned it, pointing the barrel end at the boy now. "I'll end you! I'll end you right here! Archer won't need to do it, 'cos I'll do it for him." Joe held his empty hands up disarmingly.

"Just stay by me, Ralph." Joe warned. Ralph did as he was instructed. He knew that the weapon it the grunts hands was dangerous, and would likely kill him if he tried anything funny. The grunt edged towards them.

"I bet he'll give me a promotion for doing this." The grunt continued. "He'll probably make me a commander. I deserve it, I do. I stood with him to the end. Even when they killed Gilbert, I stayed by him! No, he won't let me go unrewarded for this." He aimed the gun again, looking down the sight.

"Baxter!" A sharp voice stated suddenly. The fat grunt turned to the door. Danning was there, glaring at the grunt. It appeared he knew him. He took a step inside. Baxter's gun turned on the man.

"You trait'r, Danning!" He exclaimed. "Rattin' us out ta them, of all people! 'ow could you do this to us, your own fam'ly?"

"Team Rocket aren't my family." Danning told him simply. "Sod Team Rocket! You are and always will be monsters, no matter what holy quest your mad boss sets you on." Baxter's rotted teeth gritted.

"You'll be hanged for this!" He snapped. "How many of your own did you kill just to get your own back on me?" He asked, his gun shaking a little. Danning took his hat off and threw it aside.

"You are not my own." Danning told him sternly. "I am not a criminal. Not anymore."

"You're a coward like all the rest!" Baxter growled. He aimed his gun. And Danning ducked.

"Now, Silver!" He exclaimed. As he ducked the doors flung open and a second figure appeared behind him, and beside that figure was a large blue reptile.

"Hydro Pump!" He exclaimed. Baxter, in a slothful attempt to save himself, turned to gun on Silver. But before he could pull the trigger he was struck in the chest by a massive torrent of water. The fat grunt was sent flying back across the room, where he struck the far wall painfully. His gun flew across the floor and clattered down by the stairwell. And another figure picked it up. The onlookers watched as Crystal, still wearing her rocket uniform and with Azi the azumarill by her side, picked up Baxter's machine gun and aimed it at the attackers. Joe and Ralph backed up a little. Danning looked at her, stunned yet horrified.

"Crystal…" He went to say.

"Don't move!" Crystal said, her voice faltering a little as the barrel of the weapon pointed to her only friend. She looked upon the verge of crying. "Please." She added quietly.

Baxter stood up once more, groaned, looked at the girl with the gun in her hands and grinned maliciously. "That's it, girly!" He encouraged, his voice hissing like a satanic snake. "All you need to do is pull the trigger and the bad men will be out of your life for good!" Crystal sighed nervously. Her arms began to shake, causing the gun barrel to wobble. Azi watched, grabbing his ears for comfort and watching in horror as his trainer aimed a dangerous weapon at the man who had looked after her when she'd needed it. She looked ready to break.

"Crystal…" Silver said, holding his arms up. Crystal didn't respond. Silver took a step forwards. Instantly Crystal's gun turned on him, his movement setting her on edge. Her legs were beginning to shake to. Feraligatr growled in confusion, looking between the two trainers. Silver held his arm out if front of the monster to keep him back. The last thing he wanted was his pokémon getting shot for protecting him, especially by this girl of all girls. "Please." Silver said, his voice kind but concerned. "You don't have to do this."

"Y-y-yes, I do." Crystal argued, fighting tears with every second. Her gun began to rattle as the muzzle wobbled wildly. Her finger scratched the trigger nervously. There was a clear worried air that she'd pull it accidentally. "I… I can't let you past, Silver." She whimpered.

"We can help you, Crystal." Silver told her. "You don't have to kill us, just because Baxter here threatens it. You can just let us past, and we'll stop this.

"He'll hurt me!" She sobbed, tears falling finally. The gun shook wildly in her grip as water stained her sight. "He'll… he'll kill me if I let you pass." She cried. "I… I can't."

"Archer did some awful things to her." Danning explained quietly. "He's convinced her to do as he wants, otherwise he'll beat her up again." Silver felt a pit of disgust and hatred well up inside him. That was a barbaric thing to do. They had broken her young spirit so much that she was more afraid of what her boss would do then what the police would do. To her prison was a better option then freedom, because freedom ran the chance of facing Archer's bad side. He realised that, right now, she needed someone to trust. She needed someone a bit more than a friend. She needed him.

"You wouldn't shoot me, would you?" He asked. Crystal's eyes widened a little. She didn't answer his question. Silver took another step forwards and her gun aimed at him again. "You don't want to hurt me." He told her. "I know that. What happened to the girl I saw before? Where did she go?"

"She had to die, Silver." Crystal told him. "Crystal is dead, and I am just another member of Team Rocket."

"That's not true." Silver told her, taking another cautious and slow step towards her. "You're talking like you're a robot, just programmed to do a job. You're no robot, Crystal."

"I know." She muttered, gasping as her tears hurt her inside. "I…" Her voice was lost under the sobbing. Her arms began to wobble again. "I'm sorry." She muttered, opening her eyes once more. "I'm so sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry." Silver told her, taking another step forwards. This wasn't working. Crystal was still being defiant. He'd have to say something to her, something very important. "Do you feel anything for me?" He asked her, not unkindly but more curiously. Crystal looked even more nervous now.

"Don't make me say…" She muttered weakly, but gave up ending the sentence. She barely had the mental strength to continue, let alone the physical strength.

"I feel those things for you." He told her. Crystal looked up again.

"You…" She tried to say. "You do?" Silver smiled at her. His cheeks were going slightly red.

"Of course." He told her, slightly more confidently. "I can't bare seeing you here like this. You mean so much to me."

"We barely know each other." She snapped, her depressed and abused mind trying to convince herself back onto Baxter's side. "I saw you twice, and that's it. We only had one moment together."

"Is that not enough?" Silver asked. "To know I feel something?" Crystal was quiet. Silver took a few more steps forwards.

"Enough of this, Crystal!" Baxter snapped furiously. "Shoot him already!"

"You don't have to listen to him." Silver told her. "You can just leave with me, right now. We can go, get away from this, find your family again. You don't have to think back to this ever again. Just, please, don't do this. Put the gun down and walk away with me."

Crystal slowly lowered the gun. The weapon fell weakly to her side, her fingers clinging onto the handle carelessly. Her eyes released a waterfall as all her emotions escaped from them. She looked up at Silver, sobbing.

"Silver!" She exclaimed. "I'm sorry!" Then Crystal broke down into tears. The gun dropped from her fingers and clattered harmlessly on the floor by her feet. Silver smiled proudly at her.

"It's okay." He said quietly, his smile warming her heart. "It's okay. It's over!" Crystal smiled weakly back at him. Baxter however was steaming.

"You stupid girl!" He roared. He shoved Crystal aside and picked up the gun, aiming it and cocking it in seconds. "You devious little shit!" He yelled. His finger reached for the trigger, and fired.

Silver froze to the spot as the bullets came towards him. Even if he'd wanted to react he couldn't have. He wasn't fast enough. But that one second of time between release and impact slowed almost to a halt. He was certain he was doomed. So when that second passed and he realised that he was in fact still alive he was not only relieved but also very confused. It was then he realised that he was lying on the floor. Someone had shoved him over. He looked up. Danning was standing where he had been, his chest out and looking stern. Several small bullet wounds dotted his body. He winced, buckled back onto his knees and fell to his side with a dead thud.

"Danning!" Crystal screamed. Azi curled up into an afraid ball. Baxter growled, even more furious now. He smacked the gun barrel.

"Damn thing's empty!" He exclaimed.

Silver suddenly felt a surge of anger inside him. He turned to Feraligatr and gave his pokémon an understanding glare of purest hatred. Feraligatr read this, turned to Baxter and growled, Silver's fury building up inside of it. The large blue reptile stomped forwards. Its stomp quickly turned into a rampage. It rushed at the grunt, jaws wide and claws outstretched. Baxter's gun reloaded, looked up, aimed and sailed out of his hands. The grunt screamed as the massive crocodile beast jumped on him, crushing him under his weight. Feraligatr raised its claws, and struck. The scream was cut off sharply. Then, when it was over, Feraligatr stood up once more, blood on its claws. It turned away and left the scene, returning to its trainer victorious. Everyone was crowded around Danning. Crystal had rushed to his side the second he collapsed. The bullet holes dotted him chest and torso. A few had even punctured his shoulders and arms. He was shivering. Silver pulled his jacket off, allowing him more room to breathe. His shirt was matted red with blood. Crystal was sobbing as she knelt beside him.

"Danning…" She wept, feeling guilty. "I'm so, so sorry!" Danning groaned. His breath was faint, as was his voice. But the surrounding friends could just about make out his rasping words.

"No." He said weakly. "Wasn't… your… fault." He gasped for air.

"Give him some space!" Walker instructed, moving the children back a little and helping to prop Danning's head up so he could breathe better. The grunt coughed weakly. He was beginning to loose consciousness.

"Yes it was." Crystal said, her eyes screaming water. "It's all my fault. I should have turned the gun on him. I should have just stood up form myself. If I'd said no then maybe you'd be okay." Danning took her hand, smiling weakly up at the girl. His eyelids were beginning to fall heavy.

"I…" He groaned. His lungs were starting to give up. But he kept trying, a few coughs escaping between his words. "I… I wish… you were my… daughter." His hand let go of hers, falling lump on his chest. His eyes slid quietly closed. His breath faded away quietly. Crystal stared at her friend.

"No!" She exclaimed. "No! Danning, please, don't leave me!" She thumped the floor, grief and hatred for herself taking over fully now. "I can't do this alone!" Silver hugged her, as did Azi. They held her both in their arms, trying to calm her as best they could.

Joe looked sorrowfully down at the man. He hadn't known him for long, he'd barely even spoken. But he could tell that Danning had been a good man. It was his actions that proved that in the end. Walker looked up at his Nephew, and at Winter.

"You two better go on without us." He told them. "We'll sort this out. We'll get Danning what help we can. But you two need to stop Archer now. You're the only ones that still can."

Joe looked at his uncle. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"You'll be fine." Walker told him with a confident smile. "I know I said this was dangerous, but I trust in you, Joe. You're a strong kid, stronger than most. If anyone can stop Archer, it's you." Walker nodded for him to go. "Now get going quick." He said sharply. "Before he finds a way to escape again." Joe smiled back at his uncle.

"I'll come find you after this is over." He said.

"I'll see you then." Walker said. He waved a hand. "Now get going already."

"Come on." Winter said, giving Joe and hand up. Joe smiled at her.

"Are you okay to help me?" He asked her.

"Of course I am." She said. "I wouldn't leave your side for anything right now." Joe smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you, Winter." He said. She smiled back, blushing a little. The two of them glanced to the stairs. "Time to get going." He stated. "Come on Ralph, Casey." The two trainers rushed across the room and up the stairs, their pokémon following after them. Walker smiled as the disappeared up the levels. He knew they could do it. They were strong trainers. Archer didn't know the hell he was in for.

The two of them hurried of the flight of steps, their pokémon climbing beside them. The only think pushing them forwards was their own determination. Up several flights they went, passing by several floors for equipment, editing, audio recording and broadcasting. The tower was taller than it looked, but eventually they found themselves one floor from the top.

"Nearly there." Joe said, panting slightly. But as they turned to corner they found an obstruction standing in their way on the steps. This obstruction was around five foot ten, had red hair and a malicious smile on her face. Ariana took a step down, glaring and grinning at the two trainers.

"End of the line, you two." She stated, moving her arms from behind her back to reveal two pokeballs behind them. "You aren't going any further." She stated. Joe and Winter glanced at each other and took a step back. Ralph had already prepared for a fight. Luna and Casey however backed away, feeling a little unsure about this woman. Luna especially was nervous of her. He'd battled her once before, and lost. Ariana glanced her sharp eyes across their pokémon, and grinned. "Is this all you have left?" She muttered, sarcastically surprised. "I must say, I thought you'd be better at this by now." Winter glared at the woman blocking their way.

"Joe, just go. I'll hold her off." She whispered.

"You'll what?" Joe whispered back, stunned.

"You heard me." She told him. "You don't need me to fight Archer. You can do that yourself just fine. I'll keep her attention while you slip past."

"Don't even think of planning any shit!" Ariana snapped suddenly. The two trainers focused back on her. Archer's last commander folded her arms. "No matter what you try, you aren't getting past me. Archer doesn't need to be bothered by you."

"There's more of us!" Joe told her quickly. "They're downstairs. If we call for them they'll come straight up and overwhelm you! You and Archer aren't escaping today!" Ariana nodded her head, faking care.

"I think you'll find that we are." She told him. "Or he is at least. My job is to protect him, and protect him I shall. Sorry, but you aren't passing." Winter stepped forwards.

"How about a rematch?" She asked suddenly. Joe and Ariana looked at her.

"Seriously?" Ariana asked, her voice mockingly stunned. "You? After the last time?" Winter nodded. "Did you not forget that I completely destroyed your team?" She asked.

"I know." Winter told her. "And I don't care. That was a week ago now. I'm stronger now than I was then."

"You've just been in the midst of battle, using your own pokémon to protect your life." Ariana reminded her with a bout of intrigued guile. "I'd be surprised if you could hold a paperclip right now."

"Alright, then let me prove you wrong." Winter told her. "Fight me, and we'll see." Ariana's eye glared from trainer to trainer.

"How do I know your friend won't intervene and save you?" She asked.

"He won't." Winter said. "Because if you fight me then you'll let him pass to face Archer." Ariana shook her head.

"No deal." She stated stubbornly. "I won't let him pass, no matter what you try and pull on me."

Winter sighed. This was not going great, and they hadn't even started fighting yet. She turned to her companion, who had been watching with a slightly open mouth, and whispered to him. "Joe, when we start fighting you need to just run for it. I'll do my best to stop her from following you, but you need to run. You and Ralph can still help your father. You can still stop Archer."

Joe stared at her, stunned by everything she was saying. "Winter, I'm not leaving you to face a commander by yourself."

"And why not?" Winter asked, seemingly a little hurt by his comment. "Do you not think I can deal with her by myself?"

"No." Joe said. "I just…" He stopped, unable to make himself continue what he was going to say. She looked at him.

"Joe, please, just go when you get the chance. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"And what if you aren't?"

"I will be."

"How do you know that?"

"Joseph!" Winter snapped. She sighed and tried to calm herself down. "Please, just do as I ask."

Joe continued to stare at her. To him the idea of abandoning Winter with a rocket commander was worse than any hell he could fathomably conceive. "Winter…" He stated firmly. "I'm not leaving you." She sighed and looked down at the floor.

"Suit yourself." She muttered. She looked up again, staring him in the blue eyes. And then suddenly she lashed out.

Joe had been expecting winter to slap him, or even maybe shove him in order to get him to move on. But what she did instead took him by surprise completely. He was certain she had originally been aiming for his cheek, but it appeared that she had missed. Winter grabbed Joe by the shoulders, pulled him close and kissed him lightly on the lips. Joe was speechless, though it would have been tough to talk in this situation. His eyes were wide and stunned. He hadn't seen it coming. But, beyond this surprise he realised something else. He liked it. The experience passed in a stunned blur. In real time it was less than a second, but for both of them it lasted an eternity. Her eyes were closed, but his were wide open. The surprise of it was still at the forefront of his mind. And then it was over. Winter pulled away, a small blushing smile on her face as she let go of the boy's shoulders. Joe just stood there, shocked, his eyes looking off into the distance. His mind was trying to comprehend what exactly had just happened to him. He felt suddenly good, although he was trying to figure out why. There was still a taste on his lips, but that could have been psychosomatic. A small smile crept stupidly onto his face. Winter was also smiling, although hers was more from falling nerves and a rush of sudden adrenaline. Her cheeks were pink with shyness. Ralph stared at the two of them, a very surprised eyebrow raised up on his forehead, as did Luna. Casey however just clapped his hands happily. An awkward smile grew on their faces, mainly because they'd just been force to watch this little moment. Joe's eyes finally refocused on reality, and he looked at his friend. Winter looked back, waiting.

"Uhhh…" was the only thing he could say. His tongue had become like jelly in his mouth. "W-W-W-Well…"

Someone coughed suddenly. The two trainers looked back. Ariana was standing at the bottom of the stairs, her arms folded and an eyebrow raised. "You know, this is really cute and all…" She stated coldly. "But I thought we were supposed to be fighting."

"Of course." Winter said, her voice squeaking a little as she stepped away from her companion. She turned and faced the commander full on, squaring up ready for the fight. Joe continued to stand where he was, starting to blush. "Joe, get ready to run." Winter whispered. Joe took a few second to figure out what she'd said. When he finally realised he nodded slowly.

"Uh, okay." He said, still a little shocked.

Ariana held out her pokeballs and released them, sending out her Arbok and Vileplume. She didn't wait a second to start fighting. "Bite! Razor Leaf!" She yelled demandingly.

"Pursuit!" Winter instructed. Luna rushed at Ariana's pokémon and attacked. Winter released a pokeball, sending out Starmie to help her. "Hydro Pump!" She commanded. Her attacks landed perfectly. Luna struck Arbok in the chest, causing it to recoil in surprise. Starmie's hydro pump then proceeded to send the large snake flying back against the wall. Ariana's attacks hit Luna, but did little to hurt him. "Now, Joe!" Winter shouted. "Go!"

Joe didn't say anything in response. He gave Winter one final look of goodbye and rushed for the stairs again, Ralph and Casey following beside him.

"No you don't!" Ariana cried. Her pokémon turned to attack the boy, but they were struck again by another attack from Winter's pokémon. Starmie collided with Vileplume before it could pull of a solarbeam, striking it with a rapid spin and kicking the pokémon several feet back onto its side. Arbok however had quickly managed to get back onto its feet, and chased after them, hissing crazily. Joe reached the steps and sped up them. Arbok attempted to follow, but something pounced on it. Luna had jumped onto the beasts back, scratching and biting at its scaly skin. Arbok hissed and struggled, its focus now on the black quadrupedal pokémon. Joe continued on up, not looking back. Ralph flew beside him, protecting him matter what, and Casey followed behind as moral support. Joe quickly remembered to withdraw him. He didn't want Archer using him as a target the second he saw him. The two friends ran up the steps, heading towards their final fight. Winter smiled as she saw them disappear up the steps. She wiped a finger across her lip subconsciously, a smile growing on her face.

"Go on, Joe!" She whispered. "Stop Archer!"

* * *

Joe hurried up the steps two at a time. His legs were aching, his body was tired, but he kept going. Ralph followed beside him, a stern expression on his face. He was prepared for what they were going to face. They had battled Archer once before, and he had defeated them. But this time he didn't have any pokémon to protect him. Ralph could only hope that Joe knew what he was doing, or that he had a plan up his sleeve in case something went wrong. It turned out that Joe didn't. He was going in defenceless. They reached the top of the stairs finally. With a final step they reached the top floor of the radio tower. The room was made entirely of glass windows above and around, creating a spherical shape for the room they stood in. It was practically empty, save for a lift and a few pay-per-use telescopes for tourists to see the region through. And at the centre of the room stood their target. And fighting him was Joe's father.

They hadn't seen him yet. They were too busy trying to kill one another. Archer was lashing out with his arm, a sharp looking knife in his grip. In his other hand was a glowing blue metal and steel glove with multiple wires running down it. Joe recognised it from his previous fight with Archer. He'd fixed his PMED device, the one he used for emulate pokémon moves. That meant he could use a hyper beam at any point he wanted to. In fact Joe was surprised he wasn't doing so now. His swinging blade struck Cheng's weapon, a simple oak wood Bo staff with metal rimmed tips and a dry wrapping handle. He held it up in both arms, blocking the attacking knife as it swung down. Archer's attack was parried with a simple flick, knocking the knife from his fingers. He stumbled back a little, growling. His clothing was cut and his mask seemed loose. Small tufts of cyan hair could be seen showing through the slashes in the side. Cheng pointed the tip of his Bo staff at Archer, keeping his distance so that the commander didn't try to grab his weapon. Archer moved no further back, refusing to be intimidated by his ex-commander. His growl could be heard around the entire room. Cheng narrowed his eyes at the vicious man. By chance he glanced to the stairs, and that's when he saw Joe. His expression changed from anger to surprise. He smiled at the boy. Joe nearly smiled back. But Cheng had dropped his guard, and he instantly regretted it. The second he turned back to Archer he was punched in the chest by a static fist. His Bo staff was sent flying into the air. It landed several feet away, clattering with a metal and wood tumble on the sleek floor. Cheng landed on his back, his clothing sparking. He sat up, and Archer loomed over him. The Leader of Team Rocket glared down at his treacherous servant, shaking his head.

"Still so careless, Commander." He tutted, making fun of the man he'd been fighting. "You talk bigger then you fight." He stated. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple short barrelled pistol. He aimed it at the commander, the gun in his right hand, his PMED glove attacked to his left. "To be honest, I can't remembered why I even hired you." He cackled, trying to make the commander feel defeated. "My newer commanders were a thousand times better than you or Wharton ever were."

"And where are they now?" Cheng asked sarcastically.

"Shut up!" Archer snapped. He cocked the gun. "I'd pray to god if I were you. I certainly won't spare you." Archer aimed the gun. And then he stopped. Slowly he turned around, facing the stairway. He saw Joe and Ralph standing there watching him, hate filled stares spearing him like well thrown javelins. The leader of Team Rocked hissed in a breath. "So you finally show up again." He stated, his gun lowering to his side. "Looks like no matter what I do, you always find a way to ruin it for me." Joe said nothing. He just continued to glare at Archer. "Nothing to say to me?" The commander asked, trying to pluck cords on his nerves. "That is interesting. No witty comebacks or harsh insults to throw? No hate filled anger to release this day."

"I'm done talking." Joe told him sternly. He took a step forwards, Ralph following his movement. "Leave him alone, Archer. This is between you and me now." Archer tilted his head back.

"Why would you want me to spare this man?" He asked suspiciously. "You know who he is, surely. Why would you want me to save him?" Joe didn't answer his question. But he didn't need to. Archer quickly figured it out. "Oh." He chuckled. "I see. I think I get it." He glanced back at Cheng. "He's your son, isn't he?" He said, realisation dawning on him. Cheng glanced at Joe. This simple action confirmed it for the Rocket commander. Archer turned back to Joe, clapping his hands together in excitement. "Well, that explains so much now!" He stated, rubbing his palms together. The hand wearing the PMED devise sparked slightly at it created friction with his other gloved hand. "He's the child of that little grunt you had a fling with."

"Leave his mother out of this." Cheng snapped. Archer turned on the man, glaring down at him.

"I never thought I'd see the day where a commander and his son tried to overthrow me." He stated, chuckling at the idea. "Yet here that day is."

"You've lost, Archer." Joe told him. "You're army is dead, your titan had fallen and your commanders have all been arrested. You're the only one left. Just give up and come quietly." Archer turned on Joe now. He seemed not to move for a few seconds. Then suddenly he burst out laughing. He nearly doubled forwards as he began to howl with laughter at what the boy had said.

"You think I will come quietly?" He asked, taking a heavy intake of breath. He continued to laugh, much to Joe's confusion. He and Ralph glanced at each other, unsure what he was laughing about. Then suddenly the commander stopped. When he spoke again his voice was a growling roar. "I will never come quietly!" He yelled. He thrust his fist forwards, the PMED device wrapped around it. From his glove he fired a massive bolt of electricity.

The attack flew straight at Joe's chest, but he was saved in the instant by his friend. Joe fell backwards, Ralph landing on top of him, his body sparking with static and his wings folding in. "Ralph, no!" Joe exclaimed. He hugged his friend, sitting up. Ralphs jaw was clenched closed. He tried to speak, but was unable to. Joe looked at him with concern. Archer was already preparing for another attack. Joe glared up at him, fury in his eyes. "You bastard!" He exclaimed. "You didn't need to hurt Ralph!"

"I wasn't aiming for him." Archer told him, speaking the only honest words he'd ever said in his life. "He got in the way. It was you I was aiming for." He went to take a step forwards, but found that something was clinging onto his foot. He turned around. Cheng had grabbed his leg, trying to trip him up. Archer growled at him. He turned around and kicked his ex-commander in the face. "Don't touch me, you treacherous rat!" He exclaimed. Cheng glared back at him, his hand covering his nose as blood ran out from it. Archer turned back around, only to be tackled to the ground himself. Joe had rushed him the second his back was turned. The boy grabbed Archer by the throat, trying to throttle him. He pulled a fist back and struck the man in his masked face.

"You do not hurt Ralph!" He screamed. "You NEVER hurt Ralph!" Archer struggled, then punched the boy in the side of his head. Joe was knocked off the commander, landing on his side with a painful grunt. He winced a little. Archer was already getting back to his feet. Part of his mask had ripped away. The left side of his face was visible. His blue eye glared at the boy with malicious fury, his clenched jaw grinned demonically. He proceeded to kick the child in the ribs. Joe exclaimed in pain, rolling over onto his back. Archer grinned further.

"You stupid little fool!" He muttered. He reached to his PMED device and rebooted it, preparing to use another move. Cheng could do nothing to help his son. Archer had weakened him too much to be of any help to him. Archer pulled his metal encased fist back, setting it alight in a second. He prepared his fire punch, aiming to strike it down into Joe's head. "Only one of us will die here today!" He roared, blood hungry hatred in his eyes. "And it won't be me!" He punched down. As he did so Joe raised his arms up, crossed. The device on his arm beeped, and then suddenly a large diamond shaped shield popped out from it. Archer's attack struck the metal, exploded in flame, and rebounded. The man was thrown back a few feet, still standing on his two legs but looking surprised and winded. He glared at the boy, his surprise turning to more anger. Joe got back up onto his feet. His face was bruised and his ribs were aching a little, but he wasn't hurt too badly. He could still fight. He panted a few heavy breaths.

"If I'm not leaving this place…" He gasped. "…then neither are you!" Archer growled.

"Why don't you go ahead and call on one of your pokémon to help you?" Archer taunted. Joe glared back at him. Slowly he unbuckled his pokeball belt and threw it aside. It landed next to Ralph who was still stuck paralyzed on the floor. The crobat looked at the belt, then back at his trainer, a worried stare growing in his eyes. Archer chuckled. "So you want to play this out the old fashioned way?" He said, a small mocking chuckle in his voice. "Alright." He cracked his knuckles, preparing to throw a few more punches.

"You're going to pay for everything you've done here, Archer!" Joe stated sternly. "You're going to pay for all the people you and your men have killed!"

"And what of all the grunts your 'friends' killed today?" Archer asked. Joe said nothing, but continued to glare at him. Archer smiled. "We shall see who of us will pay in the end." He stated. "But enough talk. It's time to end this."

Joe gritted his teeth. "Indeed it is." He muttered.

Archer charged at him, pulling his PMED device back and glowing brown. Joe rolled aside slowly as Archer swung down. The device struck the floor, and the room suddenly shook. Joe found that getting back to his feet suddenly became tougher as his whole body shook and lost balance. He nearly fell over, but just about managed to save himself from landing on his face. He recovered quickly, but Archer was already swinging in with another attack. He fired another thunderbolt from his arm, shooting it at Joe's chest. The trainer was able to raise his shield just in time, deflecting the bolt upwards into the roof as the protect barrier formed around him. Archer growled, but continued to attack the trainer with relentless fury, each attack gaining more power as he put more force into it. Archer swung another punch in, this time creating a mimicked mega punch, and struck Joe's shield. This time the barrier broke away, and the boy was flung backwards. He landed painfully on his back, his metal shield hitting him in the head and creating a long bruise. He winced and groaned, but hurried back to his feet to fight again. Archer was rushing him now, his arms reaching out preparing to grab the boy by the neck. Joe raised his shield, blocking the man and holding him back. Archer pressed against his blue shield, grabbing the edges and trying to shove it backwards. He glared over the top of it, his fiery eyes staring madly and his gritted teeth spraying spittle over the hunk of metal. Joe pushed against the commander, using his legs as his main driving force. Archer was stronger than Joe was, but the boy didn't give up. He continued to hold Archer back, and when he got the chance he looked for a weak point in the commander's attack. He found one. Joe shoved the edge of the shield into Archer's arm pit, stabbing through his clothing with the pointed tip. The commander backed up exclaiming, his arm gripping the wound. Blood stained his fingers where the wound had punctured his skin. He looked back at Joe and growled. He rushed Joe again, but this time he was stopped by the shield as Joe swung it at him. The metal weapon hit him in the face with a heavy smack. Archer stumbled back, his teeth cracking, so clenched together that they could shatter any second. He glared at his enemy.

"You test my patience, Glende!" He roared. He raised his device up again, the tip sparking white with pure energy. "Just give up already! You will not defeat me!"

There was a small flapping sound from outside the windows. And then there was a loud creaking. Slowly archer turned around. A large white dragon face looked in at him, its two small eyes focused entirely on him. Its two huge wings were gripping the roof with strong fingers, breaking the surface apart. It inhaled, light growing inside its open mouth.

 _'_ _Get Down!'_ Lugia told Joe psychically. Joe didn't wait a second. He dropped to the floor, lying flat and covering his head. Ralph and Cheng had done that same. Archer aimed his device again, this time pointing it at the dragon. Then Lugia fired. Its hyper beam struck the glass and shattered it, causing shards to fly inwards and outwards in a rainfall of solidified liquid sand. Archer abandoned his attack an instead covered his face, turning away from the explosion. Lugia's attack struck every window on the top floor. It panned around, blasting out all the glass from each frame and causing it to rain down like miniature meteors of clear material. Archer covered himself. The glass ripped his cloak, his clothing, his mask, his gloves, his legs, even his face. And when it stopped, he stood up again, glaring at the dragon. His cape was a flailing rag, his uniform was tattered and his mask was nothing more than a few hanging threads and bits of red see-through plastic. He glared at the dragon, gritting his teeth again.

"Be gone, beast!" He roared, throwing his PMED fist out at the legendary pokémon. It fired a massive bolt of electricity which struck Lugia in the chest. The dragon roared in pain and let go of the building, causing it to shake nervously as he did so. He flapped off, flying around the building like a revolving satellite.

 _'_ _I have weakened him for you!'_ Lugia called. _'It's up to you now boy!'_

Joe watched Lugia fly around the outside of the building. He looked to Archer again. The commander had his PMED glove aimed at the dragon. Already yellow sparks were forming from the fingers. But he was distracted. Now was his chance to attack. Joe scrambled to his feet and rushed at the commander. The white clothed man barely had the time to react before he was jumped upon. His PMED gloved arm struck the ground, Joe's own grip holding it down. Immediately the boy began to strike at it, his fists punching into the metal. With every strike he created a dent. The metal was not strong nor stern. It was built for conducting energy and electricity, not for withstanding damage. Conducting metals tended to be relatively weak. With a few good strikes he had smashed in the central blue metal plate, cracking and denting it beyond use.

"No!" Archer roared. His left hand grabbed Joe's face, trying to push him off. "You monster!" He exclaimed. "You destroy everything I create!" Joe turned his bruised fists on Archer now. His knuckles struck the man on the jaw joint, causing him to spray spit as his head recoiled from the strike. He continued to punch him, till punching was no longer satisfactory. Then he turned back to his arm. Joe grabbed Archer's gloved right hand and ripped the PMED device from his apparel. Joe held the machine in both his hands, and then threw it down, letting it fall on Archer's hand. He stood up once more, his fingers bruised and bleeding, glaring down at the beaten man. He raised his foot up, and then stomped down. His heel struck down on the device, breaking it into pieces that no one could ever fix. And at the same time he crushed Archer's right hand. The last remaining commander of Team Rocket screamed as the bones that made up his palm broke under the weight of the stomp. Joe then kicked him in the elbow. There was another snap as the arm broke, becoming limp and useless. Archer whimpered, the pain in his arm and face the only thing he could feel anymore. He sounded beaten beyond human capability. There was only one thing left to do now, and Joe was very ready to do it. He grabbed Archer by the collar, lifted him heavily from the floor to his feet still whimpering and dragged him to the open edge. He held him out, leaving him to hang in his grip, his feet just barely still on the floor. Archer stared at him, his fury replaced with terror. His unclothed arms flailed as he saw the drop behind him. He tried to strike Joe, his broken right hand hanging useless at his side, but the boy shook him, shaking his nerves. And they stood there for a while, the long fall below them, waiting for just one slip up, or for him to let go. Joe glared at Archer. He had him right where he needed to be, over the pit to hell. All he had to do now was let go, and it would be all over. His grunts were gone, his commanders were under arrest, and his titan was dead. It was just him now, and the drop. Archer looked Joe in the eyes. And then, to the boy's surprise, he smiled at him.

"Looks like I underestimated your abilities, boy." He said, his smile not evil but worryingly calm. He glanced down at the drop under him. "You wish to end this?" He asked. His hand let go of the boy. "Then do it." He told him. "Let me fall!" Joe stared at Archer, confusion growing behind the hatred. He wanted to let him fall. He could feel his fingers itching at the idea. He'd end it all. The horror he had tried to create would be over for good. He'd never come back. And so Joe was surprised by what he ended up saying to the man.

"You may hurt innocent people…" He stated, his teeth still gritted a little. "You may destroy cities… you may even hurt my friends… but nothing you ever do will make me lower myself to your level!" Archer stared at the boy.

"Go on!" He roared, grabbing the boy's wrists again. "You know you want this! Kill me!" Joe shook his head slowly, his face becoming calm yet stern.

"No." He said simply. He pulled Archer away from the edge, still holding him by the collar. "You are a bad man, Archer, and I'm not too much better... But I will not be like you." Archer stared at him, his eyes wide and surprised.

"You won't kill me?" He asked. "After everything I've done to you? After all the pain I've brought you and your friends… You still won't kill me?"

Joe let go of the man, letting him fall to the floor. Archer coughed as he struck, wincing as pain ran down his whole body. The trainer took a step away from the leader of Team Rocket. "I'll let the court decide your fate." He told him simply. "You're under arrest, Archer." Archer lay on the floor, his head resting on his arm. He had begun to sob. Joe turned away from the pitiful man. He saw Ralph getting back up finally. His paralysis had worn off. He had watched the whole fight, and his expression now was off horrified relief. Joe smiled thankfully at his friend. "It's over Ralph." He called, a smile growing on his face. "We won."

Suddenly Joe heard the sound of shuffling, grunting, and a small click sound. He turned. Archer was standing up once more, his small handgun gripped in his still working left hand. The weapon shook in his grip, but it was clear where it was aiming. He gritted his teeth and glared, tears staining his bruised bleeding face and fiery bloodshot eyes. Joe looked at him, not too surprised by this. He should have seen it coming. Archer stayed where he stood, his gun aiming at Joe's chest.

"You ruined everything!" He screamed. "You destroyed my dream! You stopped what could have been great! You brought team Rocket to its knees, and for what?! The people!" He spat. "Fuck the people! Fuck society! You monsters did nothing to help me, you did nothing to help my mother! Why should you be saved?! Why must I lose, when you took everything from me and those I cared about?!"Joe didn't answer him. He had no idea what the man was saying.

"I'm sorry, Archer" He said. It was the only thing he could have said.

The commander focused his grip more, making the gun shake less. "Only one of us leaves alive today!" He stated. "And I know it won't be me!" He inhaled. "But it won't be you either!"

His finger squeezed the trigger. He prepared to fire the gun. But another man blocked the way. Cheng stood before Archer. Archer stared back, unable to react fast enough. Cheng said nothing. His hate filled stair spoke for him. His gripping fingers struck forth. There was the sound of serrated metal sticking into flesh. Archer gasped. He lurched forwards a little. The gun went off in his hands. Cheng stumbled backwards, landing sprawled on his back with a bleeding hole in his chest. Archer looked down. A knife was stick between his ribs, breaking the bone and penetrating his heart. He could see the red liquid flowing out from the wound. Red tears began to fall down his cheeks. His lips muttered mute words of sorrow that none could hear. He stumbled backwards, his legs loosing strength. He tried to aim the gun one last time, but his body was too weak to be accurate. He continued to stumble backwards till his legs finally gave up. And by that point he was already at the edge. Joe did nothing but watch as the screaming commanded plummeted to earth once more, his gun falling from his hands and his cape doing nothing to slow his fall. After a few seconds his scream was cut off. And that was the end of Team Rocket. Archer was finally dead.

Joe rushed to his father's side, holding the man's head up. Cheng coughed, blood trickling from his mouth. He looked down at his wound and sighed.

"Bugger!" He muttered, chuckling. "Always knew I'd go out like this."

Joe spun around and looked at Ralph, his expression very stern yet grieving. "Get a doctor, now!" He exclaimed. Ralph looked back at him, understanding the situation completely. He flew off out of the shattered windows, flying down to the city in search for someone to help them. Joe turned back to Cheng and placed his hand on the wound, pressing down to slow the bleeding. Cheng winced. "You aren't dying today." Joe told him, his eyes misting up a little. "You saved me. Now I'm saving you."

Cheng chuckled again. "I think it may be a little late for that." He said. Joe was confused by why he was so happy. The man was dying.

"You didn't have to kill Archer." Joe told him.

"If I didn't then he would have killed you instead." Cheng told him. "But I'm glad you knew better than I did. You didn't kill him, but you had the chance to." Joe nodded sadly. He had wanted to do it, every bone in his body had wanted it. But it would have made him no better than Archer. He'd have become what he was fighting to stop. That was the horrible irony of being a hero. It was highly liable you'd become the villain eventually. Cheng coughed "Still, I redeemed myself in the end, didn't I?" He said with a grin. Joe smiled kindly back at him.

"You did." He agreed.

"I made you proud." Cheng continued. Joe nodded, a small tear running down his cheek.

"You did." He said again. Cheng lay in his son's arms, looking at the wound. Blood was staining his hand. His own blood. The world was starting to become blurry.

"Is your uncle okay?" He asked. "Any Pitt and Cinders?"

"They're safe." Joe told him. "The others are with them. They may be able to help you."

"I doubt it." Cheng said. He began to cough. "Listen… You take care of them. Your uncle, your friends, Ralph, that girl Winter. You look out for all of them. You never take them for granted, okay?"

"Of course I won't." Joe told him.

"Good." Cheng's voice began breaking into a coughing fit as blood began to fill up his lungs.

"Don't speak." Joe told him, pressing harder down on the wound to slow the bleeding further. He took of his hoodie and used it to help the pressure and keep the blood inside. "Just stay calm and quiet till the ambulance gets here."

"There's something I want to say to you." Cheng rasped.

"It can wait." Joe told him sternly.

"No it can't." Cheng argued, his voice failing him.

"Just stay quiet, okay. Just rest." Joe told him.

"I'm so proud of you, my boy." Cheng muttered. Joe was suddenly quiet. He had gone cold. Cheng smiled to himself. "You stood up to us, and you won. I…" He began to cough again. Joe continued to say nothing. He just stared at him. "I'm glad that you're more like her." Cheng continued. "You're mother, I mean. You remind me of her so much." Joe looked down at his father.

"Who was my mother?" He asked. "What happened to her?"

Cheng chuckled a little. "I imagine that if you ever meet her you'll find out for yourself." Joe looked at him.

"You mean she's still alive?" He asked.

"Somewhere." Cheng agreed. He went silent for a little while, as did Joe. Then the dying man said "I'm so proud of you, my boy." A small tear ran from his scarred eye. "I'm so very proud of you." His grip loosened. His arm fell away to his side. Joe looked back down at the man. His eyes had shut, and his breathing had grown quieter.

"Father?" He asked. Cheng didn't respond. Joe shook him. "Father!" He exclaimed. Cheng still didn't respond. From the stairwell the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. Joe payed no attention to them. He continued to hold his father in his hands, waiting with him as the ambulance men arrived.

Not long later Joe found himself in the waiting room of the hospital. His father had been rushed into the A&E ward the second he'd got there. He'd still been breathing, but only just. Joe tried to be hopeful, but he knew deep down that such an effort was futile. Winter and Silver waited with him, keeping him company. Ralph was also there, as was the rest of Joe's pokémon, including Pitt, Cinders and Carter. They were also trying to comfort him, but Joe was holding onto strands of hope right now. But unfortunately someone with a pair of scissors would come in any second to cut them. His uncle was with his father right now, standing by his side as the doctors did their best to save his life. A few hours passed by, until finally a nurse walked out into the waiting room.

"Joseph Glende?" She called. Joe stood up. She approached him with a solemn look on her face. Joe instantly knew it was not good news.

"What is it?" He asked. The nurse took in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." She said. "The doctors did everything they could, but I'm afraid that your father, Enlai Cheng, is dead."


	36. Chapter 36: Learning to Move On

**Okay guys, this chapter is going to be pretty short and empty because it's pretty much just a follow up to the aftermath of the previous parts. Hopefully it isn't to boring, or too quick, but don't worry because the last five chapter are Elite Four based. Thank you for reading this far and for enjoying the story. I'm so greatfull for all the support I get doing this and hopefully I can keep it up to the end.**

* * *

 _\- Two Days after the battle of Goldenrod City -_

Joe looked down at the grave with his father's name on it. His arms were crossed, his hoodie pulled up around his neck and the hood low over his head. Rain was falling. It was cold. Autumn had officially set in to stay for a while, and it had chosen the perfect time to do so. The rainwater soaked through his clothes, making his skin prickle with goose bumps. Joe barely noticed. Of the many things he cared for this was not one of them. He continued to look at the grave. He read the words once more.

 _'In memory of: Enlai Cheng, previously Fraser Glende. A Redeemed Hero. February 19th 1963 - October 11th 1997. Rest in Peace.'_

The young trainer inhaled a weary breath. He hadn't slept well in the last few days. He'd been unable to relax. The fight was over. Archer was dead. Team Rocket had fallen, and all its commanders had been imprisoned. Ariana had eventually been caught. Winter had been able to keep her attention long enough for the police to show up, and when the commander had seen their numbers she'd been unable to talk her way out. But it had cost so much. So many good people, blameless people, had lost their lives that day. The casualties had been too great to predict, even with the titan destroyed. So many young trainers would never return home. So many brave police officers would never sign out. So many pokémon would never battle or travel or act or perform again. Everyone had lost someone that day, and for what. The city was half in ruins. One in every three building needed repairs of some kind. Many were so destroyed that they could never be rebuilt. All that could be done is demolish them so new buildings could be put up. The radio tower stood empty to the west end of the city, its top floor blown almost completely off, the glass windows shattered in and the many radio broadcasting devices on the roof bust beyond repair. It would take a long time to fix it all, maybe even years. The council that run the city were already in discussion about how to fix the aftermath of the battle. But it was hard to see. There had been a mass funeral. All the civilians and defenders who had lost their lives had been given graves and gravestones in the large churchyard. Even the pokémon that had been lost had been given a burial. Some of them had even been buried with their owners, in a sort of ancient Egyptian style, so that they could go with them to the afterlife. It was sort of sweet, although calling anything involving death sweet was probably a sin to nature. That funeral had ended an hour ago, and Joe was still standing in the graveyard, the rain soaking into his clothing.

He heard a small concerned grunt behind him. He turned to see Ralph looking at him from a short distance behind, clearly worried. Joe smiled weakly back. His smile was clearly fake, but he was trying. Ralph nodded questioningly to him.

"Just give me another minute." Joe asked of him. "I need some time." Ralph understood. He smiled kindly at Joe and flapped away. Joe watched him go. His crobat friend flew across the churchyard and stopped under a yew tree, where Winter was standing. She was standing under it for shelter, her arms crossed and shivering a little. She smiled back at Joe when he spotted her. Joe looked away again, unable to make himself smile. He didn't know how he felt at the moment. His head was a mixture of emotions, none of them were positive. He had barely known his father. He'd only known about him for a few months, and when he'd discovered who he actually was he thought he'd wanted him to go away. And now his father had gone away and he was never coming back, and Joe suddenly realised that he missed him again. He hadn't liked Cheng. He still had some form of hate for him because of what he'd done and who he worked for. Cheng was the first Rocket Commander Joe had fought, and he had been relentless in his job. But when he'd learned that Joe was his son he'd changed. He'd become another person. It was like he was trying to suddenly be a good father. And now he was dead. Joe felt he should still hate him. It seemed right, because of all he'd done. But he couldn't bring himself to hate him. This wasn't like when Sting had died. That had hurt a lot, but not in this way. This was different. Joe had no idea how to feel, but all he knew was that he was sad. Depressed even.

He turned away, glancing down the rows of newly filled graves. Crystal was kneeling in front of one of them, and behind her Silver stood, holding an umbrella over the two of them. Beside his stood and flapped a solemn houndoom and gloomy golbat. They had been Danning's pokémon, but now they were ownerless. As Joe watched the girl placed a small flower on the dirt under the gravestone. Its yellow flowers had already begun to wilt from lack of roots. A tear fell from her eye. Silver glanced over at Joe, noticing he was watching them. He nodded. Joe nodded back. He handed Crystal the umbrella, then slowly Silver walked over to his friend, leaving the grieving girl to herself. "How's she doing?" Joe asked, his voice slightly faint. Silver shrugged unsure.

"I dunno to be honest." He admitted. "She's been through a lot already, and she's clearly shaken after losing Danning." Joe nodded, understanding only too well what she must be feeling. "I had no idea he was a parent." Silver continued. "His real name was Nicholas. Apparently he had a wife, and two kids. Dunno where they'll be, but I think the police will inform them." Joe nodded again. "How are you holding up though?" Silver asked him, noticing his withdrawn stance and quiet attitude. Joe didn't answer. Silver glanced at the grave. "If you want to talk…" He started to say.

"I'll be okay." Joe muttered. He wasn't speaking too truthfully. He knew he was going to have a rough time, but he'd somehow get through it. He just needed time, and his own space. So he told Silver that. "I just need to be alone for a while." He explained. Silver nodded.

"Sure." He told him. "But, you know… if you need to talk just come find me." Joe smiled at his friend.

"Thank you, Silver." He said, a small grateful smile rising on his face. Silver smiled back at him.

"You're welcome, mate." He stepped forwards and put a hand on Joe's shoulder. "The least I can do for a friend." He said. Joe watched him walk away, back over to Crystal who had stood up once more. He embraced her in a comforting hug as she began to sob in his arms. Joe looked down at his feet. He never believed he'd ever say it, but Silver was a good guy. Deep down he'd just needed a friend, and now that he'd had two he became a great friend himself. He and Crystal would keep each other in line, he imagined. They were good people, even though they came from bad backgrounds. Joe smiled to himself. They make a great couple, he thought. They're able to see past each other's flaws and find the things that really matter about them. In a world as mad and insane as this one was proving to be, it was heart-warming to see two people like them find one another amidst all this chaos.

He felt a long purple wing wrap around his shoulder, and a large form appeared to his left. Joe looked down at the wing. He chuckled a little.

"Thanks, Ralph." Joe said as his pokémon hugged him. Ralph smiled back, putting on a big warm grin to make the boy happy. It worked. Joe found his smile becoming brighter and larger. He put his left arm around the bat, hugging him back. "I'm glad that you're still okay." Joe told him. Ralph looked at him. "I was so worried that Meian's words would mean you." Joe continued to explain. "Someone you love will be lost forever" He repeated. "Of all the people I could lose, I would never want it to be you." He paused. "Or Winter." He stopped. Ralph was blushing with surprise. He was glad that his trainer cared so much about him. The large bat turned and scooped Joe up in a massive hug. Joe gasped in surprise. He hadn't been expecting it. But he hugged his friend back, crushed against the crobat's body by its large and strong winds. Ralph began nuzzling Joe's head with his own.

"Cro." He chuckled affectionately. Joe also chuckled.

"Easy buddy." He said, holding Ralph back with his hands. "You're heavier than I am. You might crush me." Ralph ignored him. The crobat began to spin on the spot, using his smaller wings to rotate himself, still grabbing hold of Joe. The trainer began to yell out as the world blurred around him. "Ralph!" He exclaimed, trying to hold back his laughter but failing. "Stop it!" Ralph continued to ignore him, laughing like an insane animal as he spun on the spot.

From a distance Winter watched them, and chuckled to herself. "Those silly idiots." She muttered to herself. She caught Joe's eye once more and continued to smile, having to stop herself from laughing at him too hard.

After a minute of spinning Joe was thoroughly dizzy. And several minutes after that he finally left the graveyard. The duo walked over to Winter, the rain soaking them to the bone. She leaned against the tree, watching as they approached.

"How are you doing?" She asked. Joe nodded back to her in a confirming way. He was still smiling, although that smile was quickly wearing off again.

"I'll be okay." He told her, his voice fading once more. She smiled at him.

"Good." She said. They were silent for a little while. Winter didn't really know what to say. "If you're not okay…" She began.

"I'm fine." Joe told her, his smile now completely gone from his face. Winter nodded.

"Alright." She said, sighing a little. There was quiet again. "Would you like to get out of here?" She asked. Joe looked back at her.

"Sure." He said, his eyes averting to the floor once more. Winter smiled at him once more. She stepped forwards and took the boy by the hand. Then together they walked away, stepping out from under the tree and heading for the gate out of the graveyard. "God, it's bucketing down, isn't it." She muttered as they sped up the place.

"Hmm." Joe agreed, falling into his own thoughts.

"I hope there isn't a storm on the way." Winter continued, trying to start up a conversation. "Lightning doesn't tend to mix to well with my pokémon." She had wanted Joe to join in and make some kind of witty comment, but he didn't.

"Hmm." He said again. Winter fell quiet once more, her attempts to cheer him up proving vain. They continued on, their feet crunching the gravel path as they paced quickly down it.

"You would tell me if you weren't okay, wouldn't you?" Winter asked suddenly. Joe snapped out of his thoughts.

"Sorry?" He asked quietly.

"You wouldn't lie to me just to keep me away?" She asked again.

"Of course not." Joe told her with little effort to hide his lying tone.

"Because I don't want to believe that you're fine when secretly you're really suffering." She explained. "You're my best friend. Well, you're a bit more than that now I guess." She gave him a smile, then a wink. This made him smile back. At least she had been able to do that.

"I guess you're right." He said, his cheeks going a little pink. She grinned at him. Slowly her arm moved across his shoulder.

"Still…" She said with a sigh as they walked. "At least this is all over finally." She glanced at him. "What's the plan now?" Joe looked back at her. He hadn't thought of what he'd do after all this. His mind had never been able to think that far ahead. He guessed that subconsciously he'd always assumed he'd die in the final fight, or that he'd fail before it ever got that far. Now that it had passed he didn't know what he'd do next.

"I don't know." He told her truthfully. "There's always the Elite Four, but…"

"But?" Winter asked.

"I don't know how much I want to fight them anymore." He explained. "I mean, I've already been through it once. Why bother with a second time."

"Johto has a different League to Kanto." Winter told him. "You'd be battling a different champion." Joe shrugged.

"Maybe then." He told her. "I just need some more time." They continued on. The rain was starting to clear up now, but its drizzle was still tapping all around them. Ralph followed behind the trainer duo, using one of his large wings to shield himself from the rainfall.

"Did Silver of Crystal tell you what they were going to do?" Winter asked. Joe shook his head.

"No." He told her. "I don't imagine they'd want to hang around with us for anymore. Crystal still has her family to find, and I imagine Silver will want to help her with that." He glanced back at his friend in the distance. He and Crystal were hugging once more, preparing to leave themselves. He could see Danning's old pokémon follow after them. It appeared that Crystal had adopted them as her own, now that they had no owner.

"It's a shame." Winter said suddenly. Joe glanced back at her. She was smiling. "Silver was a nice guy. You two were getting along really well." Joe found himself smiling and nodding back in agreement.

"I'll ask him later." He told her. "Just to make sure."

"Alright." They continued on in silence for a bit. Joe glanced around.

"Where's my uncle?" He asked.

"He's in the pokémon centre." Winter told him. Then suddenly she snapper her finger. "I forgot. Team Ace passed by not too long ago. They said they wanted to talk for a minute." Joe looked at her in surprise.

"Team Ace want to talk to me?" He repeated.

"Yeah." Winter said. "I was also surprised, but they seemed quite honest about it. Didn't seem like they were planning any tricks." Joe was quiet. "Are you going to go find them?" Winter asked. Joe waited a few seconds before nodding slowly.

"I guess." He said. "Where are they?"

"They said they'd be hanging around the pokémon centre for the next hour or so." Winter explained. "You'll probably find them there." Joe sighed.

"Alright, I'll do that first." He said.

"I'll join you." Winter stated, hugging him a little tighter around the shoulder. He smiled.

"Hey, Winter.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what I asked you in the rocket base?" Joe said. "About possibly being more than friends?" Winter smiled back at him.

"I thought we already were?" She said slyly. They smiled at each other. Winter reached over and kissed him on the cheek. "But we won't talk about that just yet." She told him. "Let's go find Team Ace first."

"Sure." Joe said, blushing a little. The duo walked away, Ralph following them as they headed back to the pokémon centre.

* * *

The glass doors opened and the group entered the pokémon centre. Sure enough Team Ace were waiting inside, sitting on one of the benches to the side of the room. They looked quite solemn, which was unusual for them. The pokémon centre was quite full today. The trainers that had made it through the battle were still lining up, either to see their injured pokémon that were recovering still or to have a name engraved onto an empty pokeball. The few nurses the centre had were rushing back and forth, filling out the orders that the sad line of trainers requested from them. It reminded Joe that he should be glad none of his pokémon had been seriously hurt. A small collection of Chanseys waddled past, carrying eggs into a ward to help heal up the injured pokémon inside. One of them was Lucky, Winter's pokémon. She waved as she passed, then continued waddling on with her colleagues. Winter waved back.

Team Ace stood up as they spotted Joe enter the room. Joe nodded to them in a welcoming way. He didn't know yet what they wanted to see him about, but hopefully it was nothing devious. His doubts were quickly extinguished. Their faces made sure of that. Each one of the trio was wearing a solemn frown. He walked over to them, as they also walked to meet him. He nodded as they approached.

"You wanted to speak with me apparently." He stated simply. Ruby nodded for her team, her hands meshing together against her lap.

"Yeah." She said quietly. "It's not really something I expected us to say, but…" She went quiet. She glanced back at her companions. Ross and Frank looked as though they were unsure what to say.

"We're sorry about your dad." Frank said suddenly.

Joe looked a little surprised, but also a little grateful. "Thank you." He told them.

"Your uncle just told us that the commander was your father." Ross said, speaking up. "We didn't know, you see."

"We can't imagine what you're going through right now." Ruby continued, interrupting Ross.

Joe nodded at them. "Thank you." He muttered.

"I'd just like to say…" Ruby said, stepping forwards, her expression revealing self-disappointment. "…That we're sorry… for everything we did to you and your friends. What we were trying to do wasn't right. Now, after everything that's happened in the last few days, we can't help but feel awful about it." She held out her hand. "I hope that our apology can help us become better people than the ones we are." Joe looked at her hand, then back up at her sad face.

"You helped us win this fight and save the city." He told her. "You don't need to apologise. I forgave you already." A thankful smile grew on Ruby's face.

"Thank you." She said. Joe shook her hand, smiling weakly at the blue haired trainer. Ross stepped forwards now, reaching his hand to his pokeball belt.

"I believe I have one of your old pokémon on my team." He began to say, unclipping a pokeball. He held it out in his hand. "Would you like him back?" Joe looked at it. He knew which pokémon Ross was talking about. He'd seen Cutter battling by their side during the fight. So he surprised Ross with what he said next.

"You keep him." He said. "He behaves under your instruction. He's best of with you." Ross was a little speechless.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean, I'm offering to hand him back. He is yours after all."

"He's your now." Joe told him. "Trust me. I'd rather you take care of him. I couldn't control him, but you three clearly can."

Ross gave him a big appreciative smile.

"Thank you." He said. He put Cutter's pokeball back onto his belt, still smiling. He'd clearly become attached to Cutter. It only seemed right to Joe that Ross keep him. Cutter certainly seemed happier with him.

"What will you three do now?" Winter asked them curiously. Team Ace looked at each other. They didn't seem to sure themselves.

"We don't know." Ruby told them.

"You could come with us." Joe offered.

"Where are you going now?" Frank asked curiously.

Joe didn't speak for a few seconds. He was trying to think of what he wanted to do. "I'll probably be heading to fight the elite four." He explained finally. Ruby shook her head.

"We won't be heading that way." She told him. "We'll probably return to Kanto, and then who knows after that. Maybe we'll try and learn to be better pokémon trainers."

"That would be a good idea." Joe agreed. "You're not too far from being likable as it is."

"Then maybe there's some hope for us still." Ross muttered.

"The Aces will keep going though." Frank spoke up, speaking for his friends. "No matter where we go, we'll always be a team." Ruby and Ross smiled at their friend and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah." Ross agreed. "No matter what, we'll stick together.

"Good luck to the three of you." Winter said. Ruby bowed back.

"And to you both." She said in the kindest voice she could muster. "I don't know if we'll ever meet again, but if we do may it be in better times." She held out her hand welcomingly. Joe hesitated at first, but after a second he obliged and shook it. The blue haired girl smiled at him and Winter. "Good luck against the league." She said and stepped aside, allowing Ross to shake their hands.

"And whatever endeavours may follow." Ross added, nodding his own respects to the duo. Then he stepped away. Frank didn't bother to shake his hand, nor turn into his human form. He simple slid past them and nodded with a grin.

"It looks like Team Ace is sodding off again!" He chuckled. "So long, kid." With a finally wave goodbye Team Ace left the building, taking even their smugness with them, which usually would waver around for a bit before departing. Joe, Winter and Ralph watched as they went. A few seconds after they were gone Joe decided to speak up.

"You know, I'm going to miss them." He said quietly.

"I never thought I'd agree with you." Winter agreed.

"Cro." Said Ralph sadly.

Joe sighed heavily. "Well, what now?" He asked.

"We've still got seven hours at least till it gets dark." Winter said. She turned to Joe. "You wanna go get something to eat?" Joe smiled back at her.

"Sure." He said.

 _\- The next morning, 2:23AM –_

Joe sat bolt upright in his bed. He was sweating heavily. His heart was pounding through his shirt. He'd had a nightmare, again. The second in the last two days. The dream itself had no possible way of being described. Nightmare's tended to be tough to remember. What he did remember was being surrounded by flames, and that he couldn't move. He'd look around, but all he'd see was blackness and flame. And when he looked down he saw that he had no body. All he saw was a grave. A filled grave with an engraved stone. He couldn't read it, but he knew the words. His name was on it. And then he awoke, sweating once more. He gasped for air, the feeling of psychosomatic smoke trapped in his lungs causing him to cough. And when he finally realised he was awake again he began to sob quietly into his pillow. He was still coming to terms with his grief. He was still in denial about the whole thing. And now he was having nightmares. Joe wondered if he'd ever sleep again.

Ten minutes passed, and as Joe was unable to fall back to sleep he decided to get up and go for a walk. He didn't change out of his pyjamas but he did throw his shoes and hoodie on to keep him walk. He walked down the hall of the pokémon centre and entered the waiting room. It was empty. The nurses had all left their station. Even the night nurse was not at her desk, probably getting a drink to keep herself awake in case anyone did turn up. Joe stood looking around the room. It felt so abandoned now, not just because of how empty it was, but because of how dark it was outside too. It was as if the universe outside the building had ceased to exist while he'd been asleep. He strolled a few steps across the room, breathing slowly as if to intake the colder air. And then he realised that he was no longer alone. There was another pair of eyes watching him from the other end of the room. He turned. Casey, his newly evolved Togetic, was sitting at one of the benches, half asleep. Joe was rather surprised.

"What are you doing up?" He asked. Casey shrugged at him. Joe sighed. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked. Casey nodded a little. Joe smiled at his pokémon. "Well why'd you come out here?" He asked him, taking a few steps forwards. Casey didn't answer. Instead he looked at the floor. Joe sat down beside the white pokémon. Casey seemed to be in deep thought, but Joe couldn't figure out why. "Are you okay, Casey?" He asked. Casey shrugged. "You'd tell me if you weren't, wouldn't you?" Joe asked.

"Togi-tic." Casey said in a confirming yet sad tone, still looking at the floor. Joe was still a little unsure, but he took his pokémon's word as honest.

"Okay." He said. They were quiet for a while, sitting at the bench as the night passed them by. Casey sighed a couple of times. Then, after a few minutes, he reached to something by his side and placed it on his lap. Joe made a glancing look at what he was holding. It was Casey's pokeball, the one Joe had placed him in when he'd been born. He'd never ended up using it because Casey had stayed in Joe's bag for most of their travels. But now he had evolved and he was too big to fit in the bag. Joe wasn't sure how he'd found it, but continued to look at it with a concerned expression. "Where's you get that?" Joe asked.

"Tic." Casey said. He pointed to where Joe's belt would've been around him, then did a charade of sleep.

"You took it from my belt?" Joe repeated. "While I was asleep? Why?" Casey shrugged once more. "Casey!" Joe said, a little more sternly than before. Casey sighed. He didn't seem to have a response to Joe's question. He stood up and fluttered away on his new small wings. He exited the building, the glass doors opening for him. "Where are you going?" Joe called after him, standing up himself and running after the pokémon.

The trainer exited the building. Casey was already fluttering away down the street, his head held low. Joe called after him. "Wait." Casey glanced back, but continued on. He wasn't moving very fast, so Joe had no trouble catching up to him. "Casey, where are you going?" He asked. Casey looked sadly at the street under him. Joe looked worried and confused. "Why are you running away from me?" Casey looked up finally. He stared into his trainers face with his small adorable black eyes. Something seemed to click in Joe's brain. He seemed to realise what was going on, what his pokémon was trying to do. "You want to leave?" He asked. Casey nodded slowly. Joe was a little confused. "Why?" He asked.

Casey looked at the horizon. "Togi." He said, pointing a small chubby hand at the distance. Joe followed his point. The tree line on the horizon was blurred dark purple as the dawn approached, needing a few hours to get ready before arriving. Joe looked back, still unsure what Casey was trying to say to him.

"I don't understand." He said, looking rather hurt that his pokémon wanted to leave him. Casey smiled warmly at him now. He turned back to the horizon. It felt so far away at this light level, but if he wanted to he could make a flutter of his wings and then he'd be there. It would barely take him a minute, then he'd be gone. But first he had to explain it to his trainer. He turned back to Joe and inhaled to talk.

"To-Gi-Tic." He said slowly. Joe looked black.

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." Joe muttered, his eyes preparing to water. The news was hitting him pretty hard. "Please Casey, I don't want you to leave. I took care of you for your whole life. You mean too much for me to let go." Casey sighed sadly. He'd hoped to get away before Joe woke up so they wouldn't have had this happen. He wasn't leaving to hurt Joe, but there was no way he could explain that. But the figure approaching clearly did.

"I think he's trying to say he's ready to fly from the nest." Joe turned. His uncle was standing behind him, smiling slightly.

"Where've you been?" He asked, his eyes still tweaking a little with sadness and grief. Walker Glende held his head a little.

"I had some other business to see to." He explained. "A few things to sort out about your fathers passing." Joe looked between him and his pokémon.

"Uncle, I don't understand this." He said simply. "Why does Casey want to leave me?" His uncle stepped forwards and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Joe, I understand that this is a hard thing to learn." He said kindly. "But I think Casey may be ready to head off on his own now." Joe looked at him, then glanced back at his pokémon. Casey nodded in agreement. Joe turned back to his uncle.

"Why does he have to leave?" He asked.

"Joe, he's a pokémon that's not meant to be cooped up in a pokeball his whole life." Walker explained. "It happens. Sometimes a pokémon you raise decides to explore the world for themselves. It doesn't mean they don't love you, or that they didn't care about their time with you. It's just their choice."

"But why now?" Joe pleaded, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Why after all this, why not before or in a few days' time."

"It doesn't work like that." Walker told him. "Why do you think he tried to leave without saying anything? It was most likely to protect you from feeling this way."

"This just doesn't make sense." Joe told him.

"I know." Walker told him. "But the thing you should do is just say goodbye. Don't make it any harder for the two of you." Joe sighed, tears beginning to choke him.

"He's my child, uncle." Joe muttered. "I was there for him from the beginning when his mother couldn't be."

"I understand that all too well." His uncle told him, embracing him in a hug. "I had to look after you too, remember."

"How do you cope with that idea?" Joe asked him.

"Because I know you won't be gone forever." Walker told him. "One day you'll come back and find me. And you can take care of yourself." He smiled down at his Nephew. Joe sighed, tears choking him.

"Alright." He said, pulling out of the hug. He wiped his eyes.

"Good lad." His uncle muttered. "Make it quick. Just wish him good luck and tell him he's free to go." He patted the boy on the shoulder, but Joe shook him off.

"You're right." Joe inhaled, then exhaled heavily. He turned around and took towards his pokémon. He inhaled again. "Do you really want to leave?" Joe asked him. Casey nodded with a sad expression. Joe sighed, letting out his inhale of air. "Alright then." Joe held his hand out. "Pass me your pokeball." Casey grew a small happy smile on the corner of his mouth. He held his hand up and dropped the small red and white ball into Joe's palm. Joe closed his fingers around it. "You can leave." Joe told him. "If it's what you want then I won't stop you." Casey looked at Joe. He saw sadness in his eyes, but at the same time behind that sadness he could still see the same kindness he'd always had. It was a little withered with all that had happened to him, but it was still there. Casey only hoped he'd stay holding on to it. Joe's kindness was one of the only things keeping him from being like Archer and Team Rocket. Casey smile grew a little larger. He reached out and hugged his trainer gratefully. Joe hugged him back, tears falling again. "I'm going to miss you, buddy." Joe whispered, his tears shrinking his voice to a minute sound. Casey nuzzled the side of the boys head with his own.

"Togi." He murmured back. Joe chuckled.

"Whatever you say." He laughed. He pulled out of the hug. "Thank you for saving me." Joe told him, smiling through his tears. "I don't think I got the chance to say that. I'm so glad you were a part of my team. Even if you didn't battle, you were a large part of my family." Casey began to form his own tears now, tears of joy. His smile expanded to the width of a star belt and glistened as brightly as one. Joe took a step back. "You can leave now if you want to." He told him. "I'll watch you go."

Casey nodded. He turned around. He could see the horizon again. It was still painted purple. The sun wasn't close enough to lighten it up yet. But it would be soon. And by that time he'd be there at its centre, and the next horizon would be a brand new one. His wings began to flutter quickly. His feet lifted of the floor. With a final glance back and a wave, Casey took off into the air. He rose up like a white rocket, turned in a circular movement towards the distance and flew away, growing smaller as he got further away. A minute later he was gone, the darkness shrouding him from sight. Joe closed his eyes, his final tears falling down his cheeks.

"Casey may come back one day." Walker told him kindly, putting a hand on the boys shoulder. "And by then who knows what stories he may have to tell you."

"I'll miss him." Joe whispered.

"And I've no doubt he'll miss you too." Walker told him. He patted his Nephew on the shoulder. "It's time we went back inside. It's cold out here." Joe nodded in agreement.

"Alright uncle." He whispered. He stayed looking out to the horizon for a few more second. He could see Casey's vapour trail through the clouds slowly fading away. He didn't know where he would go, but he wished him luck all the same.

* * *

Joe went back to sleep. When he opened his eyes again it was morning. He felt tired still, but just about able to get going if he needed to. He'd had a quick talk with his uncle, and they'd decided that they would try and get to the pokémon league. Even if Joe decided not to fight them they had a chance to then head home from there. Joe got up again, this time changing into his clothes and heading out of the pokémon centre. Winter and Ralph were already waiting there for him, as were Silver and Crystal. They greeted him as he entered. He greeted them back.

"Did you sleep okay?" Winter asked. Joe shrugged.

"Not really." He told her. His friends looked at each other.

"Your uncle told us about Casey." Silver told him. Joe nodded.

"I thought he would."

"Are you okay?" Winter asked him.

"I'll manage." He said, trying to be stoic but instead coming of as tired and slightly depressed.

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Winter reassured him. "He's an adult now. He can take care of himself.

"I suppose." Joe sat down beside her. Ralph joined him and put a wing around the boys shoulder. "Did he also tell you what we were planning?" Joe asked. Winter nodded.

"You're going back to league to face Johto' Elite Four." Winter said. Joe nodded.

"I assume you're coming with us?" He asked.

"Of course." Winter said. "Why would I not want to go? I want to see you win again." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. Joe turned to the others.

"What about you two?" He asked. "Are you going to join us?

Silver looked at Crystal, and she looked back. They smiled at each other. "We'd both love to join you on that journey…" He began to say. "But we have a few other things we have to sort out first. The first being a family issue." Crystal stepped forwards.

"I'd going home. I need to apologise to my family, for running away like I did. They deserve to know where I've been." Joe nodded.

"I understand." He told them. "Of course your family should come first."

"We might be able to turn up to watch at some point." Silver told him. Give us a few days and we might manage to make it. I can't promise though." He smiled a big grin at his friend. "And, of course, we'll be routing for you." Joe smiled back.

"Thank you, Silver." He said gratefully.

"I'd wish you luck, but I don't think you need it." Silver continued. "Not when you have her looking out for you." He nodded towards Winter. Joe looked at the girl beside him. Winter smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Yeah." He agreed. "You're probably right." Silver unfolded hi arms and let them hang beside him.

"Well, we'd probably bets be getting off then." He told him. "But, you know, for what it's worth…" He held out his hand. "Thanks for being my friend." He stated. Joe looked at the hand.

"You don't need to thank me, Silver." Joe told him with a smile. "I'm just glad I got to know you better." Joe shook the boy's hand. Silver grinned at him.

"Go get 'em, kid." He chuckled, and stepped away once more.

"I hope it goes well with your family, Crystal." Joe called after them. Crystal bowed back to him in thanks. Winter waved them goodbye as the couple walked from the building and out into the city. Then Joe and Winter were alone again, except for Ralph of course, who was sitting beside Joe and nearly falling asleep again.

"What now?" Winter asked. Joe turned to her, smiling a little.

"Now, I think we'll wait till my uncle gets back." He told her. "And then we'll probably get going."

It took an hour for Joe's Uncle to show back up, and by then they were already packed and ready to go. Silver and Crystal, and anyone else that'd been in the city with them had already left, and now it was just the four of them again. Walker led the way. He knew a path back to Violet city from route 36, and from there they could head back to New Bark town and be there by four of the clock. As it turns out they arrived twenty minutes earlier than that. This left them with enough time to start their trek up Route 27 before night fall. They managed to bypass the waterfall and walk beyond the lake and wooden bridge before eventually the night caught up with them. And then they made camp by the lakeside, a small controlled fire keeping them lit and warm as they slept.

Walker stayed up on watch, just in case any unfriendly wild pokémon tried to get close. It had happened to him before, so he was always on guard for it. He glanced at his nephew asleep and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. Winter was lying next to him, and Ralph not too far away from them. Walker smiled. They were a cute couple. He'd thought that since they day he'd met her. But he'd seen that this would happen. He recognised the signs. It was so obvious to him, but less to them. He sighed. That was probably something to do with the age. As you got older silly little feelings like that became easier to spot. Still, at least they'd both acknowledged it and acted. He knew that, at that age, he hadn't been brave enough to do so. He still wasn't brave enough really. There was many thing that Walker Glende could and would do, but enter a relationship, long term or short, was not one of them. He looked back to the fire. It was glowing orange and red. He prodded the wood lightly with a stick. The flames flickered and sprayed embers. A happy smile rose on his face. "They make a good team." He muttered to himself. "Hopefully he'll do better than his father at this."

The next morning they awoke early and set off again, heading for Victory Road. Joe, Winter and Ralph had been there once before, so they knew the path. It wouldn't take them too long to traverse that place. The road there was still long though and would take several hours still to trek. So the sooner they got going the better. They packed up again, put out the few remaining embers of the fire and headed off once more on their journey. Apart from the occasional trainer practicing for victory road they didn't come across much worth noting. The journey for the most part was pretty uneventful… apart from one point.

They walked along the grass path north, having moved from the road and now enjoying a scenic path towards the Johto League, when suddenly they came across a rather muddy area of land. A pokémon was lying in it, enjoying a dirt bath. It was small with grey-blue skin, and it had a long snout, big ears and four fat legs with tiny feet. Walker quickly identified it as a Phanpy.

"Don't think I've ever seen a wild one before." He muttered as Joe put his pokédex away. The quick scan the boy had made had told him it was a ground type, which explained why it was playing in the mud, but also it surprisingly told him that this was a rather old Phanpy. The age was important. That meant it was close to evolving. And it had barely noticed them. Joe glanced down at the empty space on his pokeball belt. A silly little idea popped into his head.

"You think I can catch it?" He asked, glancing at Winter with a cheeky smile. She returned it with her own.

"I think you can try." She told him. Joe's grin grew wider. He grabbed his hat by the ridge and turned it, pointing the end back behind his head and letting his hair ruffle in the air. He turned to Ralph.

"You up for catching one more pokémon?" He asked. Ralph turned to him. His grin told Joe exactly what he wanted to know. The boy smiled back. "Then let's do this." He said. "Just like old times." He thrust a pointing hand forwards. "Ralph, use wing attack on phanpy!" He called. Ralph nodded and sped forwards. The small elephant had barely a second to react before suddenly it was lifted from the air. Ralph struck it in the side, his wig slashing its belly as he flew past. But he was surprised to find that the phanpy had its own defence mechanism. As he flew past, trying to circle it at a low air lever, phanpy snorted a pile of mud up its trunk and sprayed it at him. The dirt caught in Ralph's eyes, taking him by surprise and blinding him for a few seconds. He managed to blink enough out for him to dodge an incoming tree, but by that point the wild phanpy was surprising him again. It had curled up into a ball and was now rolling in his direction, gaining speed as it moved. It was trying to use rollout on him. "Pull up!" Joe commanded. Ralph skidded to a quick halt, curving upwards and raising twee feet higher in the air. This was enough for Phanpy's attack to pass harmlessly under him. But the wild phanpy wasn't giving up just yet. For something so small it was not only defensive but also fierce. It was desperately trying to strike down its attacker as best it could, not letting anything get in its way. "Use Cross Poison!" Joe called. Ralph lowered himself to just above ground level again as Phanpy came rolling back in for a second try at rollout. As it came in to land its attack Ralph struck. Two purple lines cross across Phanpy's body. The little elephant pokémon collapsed, its attack failing. It grunted, its trunk curling up dirt to its face to protect itself. Now it was catchable. Joe didn't wait a second longer. He pulled out a pokeball, it blurred through the air, and then it was over. Phanpy was caught, without as much as a further struggle to break out.

"Looks like you've still got it." Walker muttered with a smile. Joe didn't hear him. He was already over by the mud pit where Phanpy had been bathing. He picked up the pokeball which now encased the small pokémon. He was surprised by how quickly that had gone, especially after it had shown itself to be pretty cunning, let alone strong and quick for something that bulky and small. He held the pokeball in his hand. Ralph joined him, looking a little worn out from that surprise battle. He'd clearly been expecting it to be more than easy.

"And now to name it." Joe thought aloud. He rummaged through the piles of names in his brain, trying to come up with a good one to give it. He thought of its type: ground. He thought of its shape: bulky. He thought of its location of finding: mud, soil, clay, earth, terra. He hummed and thought further. Terra. Terrence. He turned back to his friends. "What about Terrence?" He asked. Winter and Walker seemed to digest that name in their heads for a few seconds.

"It's okay." Winter told him. "Not terribly imaginative or colourful."

"I could call him Sod if you'd like." Joe told her.

"Terrence is fine." Winter corrected herself. She knew Joe too well. He probably would name it that if she disagreed further. She knew that it probably wasn't a good thing to be the person at fault for giving a creature a name like that. Joe pocketed the pokeball, placing it in the empty space he had on his belt. Now he had a team of six once more, and hopefully they'd be ready for the league by the time they got there.

They set off once more, heading for Victory road. After another days' worth of travel they reached their destination. The caves were open to them, and they still had the rest of the day to get through it. So they spent no time hanging around. They entered inside. Joe remembered it perfectly. It was the same dark dank space that he'd been though once before. He remembered the path. He remembered the swinging rope ladders he'd had to climb. He remembered the sounds and even the smells that seemed to emanate through this place. He let it wash over him, and then he continued inside. His friends and companions followed him, letting him lead the way.

The journey though Victory Road was short, taking less than a day. Inside they encountered very few trainers and even less wild pokémon. It seemed that at this time of year the league had less competition from challengers. That probably meant Joe would get in with ease. He didn't let anything slow him. No human, pokémon, sound, smell, sight or inanimate object made of rock could stop him from getting through to the other end, and by the time he did the sun had only just begun to set.

There wasn't much to do after that but get an early night's sleep. There was no point fighting a league of very strong trainers when you're too tired to keep standing up. The next day Joe decided he would trainer, and he did that for a whole weak. Each day, every day for the next seven days, he'd wake up at the crack of dawn, grab his bag and walk down to Victory Road again. There he and his pokémon would train, both inside and outside the cave, with him, with each other, with wild pokémon and any with any other trainers that happened to pass them. And each day he found that every one of his pokémon was improving in various ways. Then, on the fourth day, he was surprised. As he was training Terrence, his team's latest edition, he suddenly evolved. In a snap of light and a slap of mud the small grey-blue elephant brew into a large, tough skinned and sharp tusked bull elephant. He'd evolved into a Donphan. Needless to say Joe was speechless about this. It had taken both him, and his opponent Pippy, by genuine surprise. But it had also given Joe a sign. He was nearly ready.

Three days later he decided that he'd done enough practicing, and that it was time. He gathered everything he'd need, medical equipment like potions mostly, but also a few revives for the tougher fights later on if things got too hairy. And then he was done. All that was left was signing up. Before he did so he said goodbye to his uncle, and to Winter. His uncle wished him a quick good luck, which was all he needed to do. But Winter spent a bit longer. She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek once more, telling him she'd be watching from the stands. And then Joe moved on. He headed up to the entrance counter, had himself signed up, and then when he was called he entered through the large doors, ready to fight the Johto Elite Four.


	37. Chapter 37: Elite Four: Will

**Sorry that I'm rushing this chapter a bit, but I'd like to get to the end of this story. This chapter is probably the shortest I've done and I plan for the rest of the Elite Four chapters to be around this length. Don't worry, the champion fight will be full length, I just want to get through these ones quickly. I've also released it a few days early so I can get them done within my short holiday. Either way I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

The entrance door closed behind Joe and Ralph as they entered the challenge, leaving behind their friends, family and past for now. Ahead of them was a short red walled hallway. They walked up it, not afraid or flinching at what was ahead of them. The plastic floor squeaked under the boy's footsteps. The unlit roof was invisible, but ahead they could see light. When they reached it they found themselves standing in a small waiting room. Two massive red coated metal doors stood ahead of them. A dimly lit bulb hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room enough to see by. No light or sound escaped through its thick foam covered lining. It seemed immovable by hand. Joe kept well away from it. Even though he knew it was perfectly safe he couldn't help but remember the last door he'd tried to open. Luckily for him Terranius was destroyed, and this was not some part of it they'd missed. Joe sat down at the red metal bench at the edge of the room, as Ralph joined him. They waited patiently for the door to open.

When it finally did it made a loud metallic creak, like an ocean liner going under. Light burst desperately through the tiny crack as slowly the doors pushed themselves open. The light was followed by a quickly rising round of furious applause. There was already a crowd watching, and it sounded like a large one as well. Joe stood up from his seat.

"Come on Ralph." He said, taking a step forwards. "It's time to face the music." Ralph scratched his head, wondering what he was talking about. This was a battle, not a dance. Where was the music coming from? Pokémon tended to not be too good with metaphors. It was more of a human thing. Ralph did indeed follow his trainer as the duo stepped through the doorway and into the light.

As their eyes got used to the area around them they saw the stadium itself, unique in its vibrant mixture of bright and dark pink. A white outline for the battle area was laid out at its centre, the trademark pokeball sketch marking the middle line. Around the arena a large white marble wall outlined its circumference. Behind that wall the rows of stands filled up the rest of the room, rising up to the roof so those at the back had the highest view. Practically every seat was taken by someone, be it trainer, child, adult or furious fan. Joe was a little surprised by just how many people had shown up. There had been a lot last year, but even then he'd been able to pick out people he'd known from that crowd. This time there were so many people that picking any single one out was an impossible task because they all moved too much to tell who was who. It was a little nerve-wracking, not to mention slightly dizzying to watch. There was a crackle of static as the speakers booted up, and then suddenly a voice blasted around the room. In a smooth, excited and all around likable tone the announced began announcing.

 _"_ _Wwwwwwwwelcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the world famous Indigo Plateau!"_ The crowd cheered at his voice, waving their hands in the air. _"And today in the league we have a very special reunion. The return of Kanto's most recent champion, back once more to take on the Johto League this time. Please put your hands together for the only trainer to ever refuse the rank of champion. Give it up for the one and only… JOSEPH GLENDE!"_ The crowd began to roar their approval. Joe felt a small wave of nerves hit him. He shook it off and waved back at the crowd. A few girls at the front began blowing kisses at him. He only hoped Winter didn't spot them, or god knows what she might do. He glanced to the door on the other side of the room. It was also pink, but a darker shade. Slowly it had begun to slide open. The Announced continued his show. _"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we introduce todays Elite Four member."_ He stated. _"All the way from the halls of the psyche, his IQ rates over one thousand and he refuses to let his style supress his skill."_ There was a loud pause for breath, then he continued. _"He's the one man who can outwit an Alakazam at chess. Please, put your hands together for the best psychic in both Johto and Kanto!"_ The doors finished opening, white smoke flowing out from them. _"Please welcome to the field the first member of the Johto Elite Four… WILL"_

Will stepped out onto the field, the smoke floating around him as he walked, resplendent in his black waistcoat with gold buttons and white frill, dark pink trousers and long sleeved shirt, black boots and black eye mask. His hair was purple and moulded to a pointed over comb with overhanging sides. He looked like a slightly evil children's party magician, yet he walked with all the grace of a failed male fashion model. In fact Joe could have sworn from the sound his footsteps made that he was wearing high heels. As it turned out his shoes were only simple long black flats. The First member of the Johto Elite Four steppes up to his end of the battle field and eyed his opponent down mysteriously. The crowd cheered for him, but surprisingly not as much as they had for Joe. That was interesting. Clearly the boy had made a name for himself here. Will turned to the crowd and waved back. The movement of his hand seemed to be slightly feminine for some reason. After a few seconds of waving he put his hand down again and turned once more to Joe. There was a silence between them. Then Will spoke.

"So finally you show up to take on the Elite Four." He said with a smile. "We were wondering when you'd do that. It certainly took you long enough. But practicing outside for the last week was probably a good idea on your behalf." Joe didn't blink.

"You know I was doing that how?" He asked simply.

"I'm a psychic." Will reminded him. "I know quite a bit… like I know that you're the kid who stopped Team Rocket a few weeks ago." Joe was silent in response. Will smiled back. "Don't worry. You've made a lot of fans because of that." He told him. "You've even made fans out of us, which is something most trainers who challenge us can't seem to do. I'd say that makes you a cut above."

"Thank you for the appreciation." Joe said, unsure what he could actually say in response. Will nodded.

"You're welcome." He said. His eyes turned to the crowd once more. They were still clapping and cheering. "And now I think this conversation must stop." He stated modestly. "After all, what's the point of taking when we can battle?" His hand snatched a pokeball from his own belt without even having to grab it, small ripples of psychic energy reflecting of the shell as it moved quickly up to his hand.

Joe nodded in understanding. His own hand reached for his belt and unclipped one single pokeball to use. "My thoughts exactly." He said back. The crowd grew quiet suddenly, and then the announcer returned to commentate.

 _"_ _Trainers, take your places!"_ He shouted through microphone and out his speakers. Neither trainer moved. They were already in place. The announcer coughed. _"Yes, well…"_ He muttered. _"Never mind that. Let's get on with this."_ There was the sound of arms raising in the air and a heavy intake of prepared breath. _"Let the Battle… Begin!"_

With the rising roaring cheer of the crowd Joe and Will released their first pokémon. As it was the first match up gave Joe the advantage over type. He had sent out Terrence, his newest team member. From the training he had found that Terrence was a heavy hitter, not a terribly fast one but his bulkiness made up for that. The large male Donphan landed on Joe's side of the stadium, causing it to shake a little with the force of his small impact. He raised his armoured trunk up and trumpeted once for a few seconds. And on Will's side of the field a weird green bird pokémon with a short rounded yellow beak, big eyes and long wings placed at the front of its humanoid body. It stood like a bowling pin on Will's side of the field, unmoving, only staring at its bulkier opponent. Will clenched a fist, then threw it out open towards the field in a demonstrational way.

"Xatu, use Psychic!" He called. His pokémon, Xatu, attacked, firing a blast of psychic energy at its opponent.

"Use Rollout, Terrence!" Joe commanded. Terrence curled up into a ball and sped at Xatu. He passed through the psychic attack, taking damage but not much, and struck his target. Xatu was thrown back, landing flat with its wings outspread.

From here on out the battle went quite smoothly for Joe's side. No matter what Xatu tried to do it couldn't seem to hurt Terrence much. Once it was back to its feet the next attack it tried to make was a quick attack. It hit and did damage, but the only real effect that came from this was that Terrence was surprised a little by its speed. Once that surprise had gone Xatu was left open for another attack. Terrence returned with Horn Attack, knocking the Xatu over again and this time sending it flying back further. It barely got a chance to get up a second time as Terrence came rolling in with another rollout.

"Evade." Will instructed. Xatu jumped aside as Terrence's attack sped past in a surprising burst of speed. Terrence came to a halt next to the bird. "Now confuse ray!" Will continued. Xatu blasted Terrence with a confuse ray, which sadly worked. The one thing Xatu didn't take into consideration however was how close Terrence already was. In a puzzled and desperate attempt to hit its opponent, the large grey skinned elephant began to thrash about, throwing its legs and trunk around wildly. It struck Xatu in the chest, winding it easily. Then, when Terrence realised he'd just hit his target, he attacked it once more, rushing in its direction. Within a minute Xatu was out cold, unable to fight back. It had tried to drill peck Terrence as he attacked, but his armour was too tough for the attack to do damage that quickly. Will withdrew his pokémon. On the scoreboard his number of pokémon dropped from five to four. Now it was reading 5:4 to Joe. Will didn't let this damped his spirits. He'd purposefully sent out his weakest pokémon first, as most members of the Elite Four in Kanto had done. He crossed his arm with a hidden smile.

"Okay, so you're strong enough to defeat Xatu." He said, his teeth shining in the light. "But you did have an advantage over me." His hand unclipped another pokeball. "Let's see how you do when that table turn." He released the pokeball, and onto the field appeared the very recognisable form of a Jynx. The ice type pokémon danced around its side of the field, its red dress skirt shaking like grass reeds in the wind. Joe remembered the last time he'd battle a Jynx at the Elite Four. This time he'd made sure to nail his feet firmly to the floor. He wasn't having that happen twice. He glanced over to Terrence who had returned to his place on Joe's side of the field. The bulky armoured elephant seemed nonplussed about the threat ahead. He just saw another target to attack. Joe admired that a little. At least he wasn't afraid of being badly hurt.

Battle quickly continued. This time it was Will who attacked first. He instructed Jynx to use Ice Punch, which Joe had predicted he would do. He instructed Terrence to use Earthquake, which Will had predicted he would do. Jynx jumped as Terrence's feet stomped the ground, causing it to crack and break apart into jagged shapes. Jynx swung its frozen fist, but Terrence took her by surprise and lashed up with his trunk as she fell in. The icy pokémon was knocked back a few metres. She quickly got back to her feet, ready to fight again. The next attack Will had her do was a long range psychic. Jynx fired and the attack hit, but Terrence took minimal damage duo to his tough body and stubborn mind. Joe made a command and Terrence rolled in to attack. He curled up and sped in a rollout towards his target. But Will was ready for this. He instructed Jynx to use another ice punch, which she did. The frosty strike hit Terrence in mid roll, right as his own attack arrived and impacted into Jynx's chest. The two pokémon were kicked back like light aired footballs struck by a massive boot. Terrence skittered across the dry floor like a loose checker, while jinks flopped to the ground like an abandoned drunk prom girl. The two pokémon rose unsteadily to their feet, getting tired. Jynx was not a terribly defensive pokémon so its tiredness was to be expected by this point. But Terrence's weariness was a bad sign. It meant he was reaching the limit of his defences. Joe would have to be a bit more careful from now on, but he knew that Terrence wouldn't be. It was part of his nature.

"Double Slap!" Will instructed. Jynx got back to her feet, fixed her dress with an angry expression and rushed at Terrence once more, her large gloved hands open and out. Terrence simply watched and waited for his trainers command. Jynx got closer, running surprisingly fast for something with no visible legs and in a dress.

"Mud Slap!" Joe commanded finally. Terrence sprayed a cluster of wet dirt into Jynx's face as she arrived. The dancing pokémon skidded to a halt, blinded by the muck. She tried to wipe it off, but as she did so she was struck in the chest by another attack. Terrence had used Horn Attack on her. The Jynx finally gave up. This time she stayed down. The pokeball opened, the pokémon was withdrawn and the scoreboard changed again.

Will looked a little impatient now. He'd clearly expected Jynx to win that one. But he took his lose sternly and prepared for his next pokémon. This time he had no witty comeback or comment. He simply sent out his next pokémon. The pokeball popped open and released a large and rather menacing exeggutor. Joe felt a small surge of concern pass up his body. Will had two pokémon with a type strength against his pokémon. But surprisingly Terrence still looked unconcerned by this. He just glared at his larger opponent, ready to fight on further. He knew he had a weakness against grass, he just didn't care. Will pointed his hand commandingly.

"Exeggutor, use egg bomb!" He yelled.

"Rollout!" Joe commanded. The two pokémon attacked. Terrence curled up and sped at Exeggutor like a rocky tank with the speed of a race car. The large sentient palm tree flung its head forwards, hurling a large egg into the path of the rolling boulder. It exploded a few centimetres to the right of Terrence. He had dodged aside when he saw it coming and had managed to avoid taking most of the damage. He came in for his own attack now and sped straight past Exeggutor, the large egg faced tree stepping aside at the last second and taking a scraping across the side of its leg. Terrence came back around for another attack, but this time Exeggutor had a better attack prepared. It lowered its body down till its leafy head was pointed straight at the incoming rollout. The centre began to grow green with light energy. Terrence didn't stop, nor did he move out of the way. In fact he couldn't see the attack till it was too late. When Terrence was barely one fourth of the field away from Exeggutor the massive tree fired its attack. A solar beam hit the armoured elephant square in the face. A second later he went flying backwards, uncurled from his rolling ball. He landed heavily at Joe's feet, smoking and glowing green. This time he wasn't getting back up.

Joe cursed under his breath and withdrew his pokémon. He probably should have withdrawn him from the field at the start of that fight, but Terrence had been so eager to continue. At least he'd get a chance to in the next battle. Joe clipped the pokeball back to his belt. On the scoreboard the numbers had changed again, now reading 4:3 to Joe. He was still winning, but who knew how long he could keep that up. From the crowd he heard a few cheers of encouragement for him. It still surprised him how many people were watching this fight for him. Was he really that well known? He turned back to the battle, ignoring the shouts as best he could. He shouldn't turn away from his fight. If he did that he was leaving himself open, and that was something you should avoid in pokémon battles. Will watched and waited patiently for him to send out his next pokémon. Joe stared back. His hand reached for his pokeball belt. He knew who he was going to send out. If Will wanted to play around with types then Joe was going to oblige. He unclipped a pokeball and released it. Quill appeared on his side of the field, roaring flame in excitement. Will smiled as he saw the pokémon appear. Joe couldn't figure out why. He didn't take a second longer to think about it.

"Flame Wheel!" He instructed. Quill curled up, ignited into a ball of flame, and rolled with a flaming trail of speed towards his opponent.

"Psychic!" Will instructed. Exeggutor fired a pall of psychic power. Quill passed through it harmlessly, taking a little damage but most of it extinguishing on his flames. He continued his attack until he struck his target. Exeggutor was knocked flat onto its back, its skin singing a little from the attack.

"Flamethrower!" Joe instructed. Quill stopped a few feet behind Exeggutor and lit it up with a breath of fire. Exeggutor was back to its feet and stumbling away already. It stared in horror at its burning body as its three heads tried to blow out the flames desperately. Eventually it did put itself out, but it looked worse for wares afterwards. It seemed to be flinching every few seconds. Will had had enough of this messing around.

"Hypnosis!" He instructed. Joe tried to call out to warn Quill, but it was already too late. Exeggutor had already pulled of the attack. Quill stared, then collapsed, snoring soundly. Joe sighed. One of the Elite Four from Kanto had done this before when he battled them. It was a cheap tactic, but it worked and it was legal. He groaned and withdrew Quill, thanking him for his effort. The scoreboard changed one more. Now it was tied 3:3. Will crossed his arms, seeming quite proud of himself. Joe decided he was about to change that. He unclipped another pokeball and released it.

"Go Leaf!" He commanded. His Meganium appeared on the field, ready to fight. Will had been surprised by this choice. Now it was a grass vs grass type battle. There were no weaknesses or strengths in play, just pure power, skill and ability.

 _"_ _This battle looks like it could go either way, folks."_ The announcer butted in suddenly. _"Our challenger's down to his third pokémon, but Exeggutor looks ready to collapse. Who will push forward first?"_

As it turned out it was Will who attacked first.

"Egg Bomb!" He instructed. Exeggutor threw a large explosive egg shell at Leaf.

"Dodge!" Joe called. Leaf jumped aside, avoiding the attack. "Body Slam!" Joe continued. Leaf rushed in and slammed Exeggutor in the chest as it readied for another attack. The large tree tottered but didn't fall over. It kicked Leaf back, causing the giant flower necked pokémon to look quite surprised. Exeggutor charged another solar beam, right as Leaf used a secret move Joe had taught him during their practice. Leaf forced the ground under Exeggutor to turn purple and bubble. The pokémon looked down confused. The liquid seeped into its skin, causing the area it touched to blotch and scar. Stunned Exeggutor stepped back out of the attack, but it was already too late. Leaf had poised it with toxic. It had only seconds left to make an attack before the poison took it out. So it did the only thing it could. It used hypnosis. Both trainers groaned with annoyance. The two pokémon fell simultaneously. Leaf landing on his side with swirling eyes and Exeggutor landing on its back with purple bubbles coming out of its mouth. The two trainers withdrew their pokémon. The score dropped to 2:2. It was still anyone's game, and who knew who'd win. The crowd cheered as thing got a little more heated. Joe unclipped another pokeball and prepared to release it. Will did the same. The masked magician man gave his challenger a wicked smile as he unclipped his fourth pokeball. With a coinciding flick the two trainers sent out their pokémon.

"Go, Cyclone!" Joe called.

"Go, Slowbro!" Will called.

The two water types landed on the field, one large and thrashing, the other fat and yawning. The crowd cheered at the sight of a gyarados. They were always fun to watch, so long as they weren't destroying the stands they were watching from. Will seemed slightly amused. Again there was another type confliction going on today. The second of two. Cyclone roared impatiently, her gaping mouth hanging above the battlefield like an oncoming black hole.

"Waterfall!" Joe instructed. Cyclone didn't even wait for him to finish his command. She sped across the ground, wriggling like a dried work as she hurried across the field. It didn't take her long to reach her opponent, due to her long body being able to stretch out far. Slowbro just watched stupidly as she approached.

"Body Slam!" Will called. Slowbro slowly stood up. Cyclone was looming down on him now. She was getting ready to attack. With a slow starting waddle Slowbro stepped towards Cyclone. Then, when it was only twelve feet away, the large pink pokémon charged, ramming its whole body into Cyclone's unprotected belly. The large sea serpent screeched and hissed in surprise. She backed up, slithering away from the attacked. Slowbro smiled to itself and rubbed a sleepy eye. Will was also smiling. His pokémon had done as it was trained to. Cyclone glared at the fat pink creature ahead of her. She had her eyes targeted it like the crosshair of a gunsight.

Without needing a command from Joe she attacked, attempting to pull off her waterfall attack again. Slowbro continued to hold its ground, watching with dull uninterested eyes as its opponent tried to attack once more. With barely a movement it fired a psychic blast at the attacking snake. Cyclone managed to resist the attack, although it hurt her she pushed through it. This time she landed her own attack, sliding up and striking Slowbro with a rising spinning spiral. The much smaller pokémon was knocked back metres, landing on its side, its shell bitten tail tapping the ground behind it. Slowly it pushed itself up, looking surprisingly angry for something which was usually quite bored and uninterested. With a fit of anger the bulky pink pokémon rushed the much larger serpent. By Cyclone was ready for it. She lunged herself, diving with a mouth full of ice coated fangs. She bit down on the top of Slowbro as it rushed her, attempting to slam into her chest again. The big pink creature squealed as Cyclone bit into it, its head stuck somewhere in her mouth. The large serpent raised her head, shook it around a little, and then spat the pokémon out once more. Slowbro struck a few feet back, making a bulky thud as it did so. It sat up, wiping the saliva of its arms and body. It glared at Cyclone again. And then it charged once more, rage fuelling its surprisingly speedy legs. Cyclone prepared for another close range attack. But half way towards her the opponent took her by surprise, as Slowbro fired a psychic attack at her. The red gyarados recoiled as the attack struck her in her vulnerable head. And while she was recoiling Slowbro struck her once more in the chest. Cyclone fell, landing on her back in pain and writhing to get back up. Slowbro smiled to itself.

"Body Slam it again!" Will shouted. Slowbro nodded and rushed in once more to attack. But Cyclone hadn't given up just yet. Right when Slowbro was about to attack she acted, whipping her tail out and smacking the pokémon back across the field. Slowbro hit the far wall with such force that he cracked it. And then he fell down, the impact finishing him off. Will stared open mouthed. The climax to that fight had been so disappointing, but now he only had one pokémon left. Fortunately it was his strongest pokémon.

 _"_ _Will is down to his last pokémon, folks."_ The announcer stated. The crowd roared with excitement. _"Remember, this could still go either way. Like most great trainers he's saving his best pokémon for last."_

Will withdrew Slowbro as Cyclone managed to roll back onto her front and rear up properly once more. The pokeball snapped shut, and Will placed it back on his belt. He looked at Joe. Joe looked back. He smiled sneakily. "Don't get too cocky." Will warned him. "Your victory isn't assured just yet." Joe smiled back. He wanted to say something witty in response, but he decided against it as it would probably be rude. Will unclipped his last unused pokeball. With a flick of his hand he released it. The pokeball sailed through the air, struck the ground and released a pokémon. "Finish this, Alakazam!" Will shouted. On his side of the field appeared a slightly elderly but very stern and strong looking Alakazam.

Joe groaned. He'd battled several Alakazam in his time as trainer, which hadn't been too long in itself. Each and every one had not only been very strong and capable fighters but they had also been cunning, quick and quite often unpredictable in their actions. And looking at Will's last pokémon Joe could tell this one wouldn't be any different, even if its moustache was sprouting grey strands. Memories of fighting Tom's Alakazam popped back into his mind. He'd been lucky in defeating him. Ralph had managed to just pull through. Hopefully it wouldn't get that bad this time. He turned to Cyclone. She was showing no signs of tiring, but then again she was a gyarados. She could be ready to collapse and she'd never show it. Joe only hoped she was strong enough to keep fighting. He didn't want to send Ralph out just yet. He had a type weakness to the psychic pokémon. Joe made a quick command as Will watched from his side of the field. "Alright, Cyclone." Joe pointed a finger to Alakazam. "I want you to use…" As it turned out he didn't need to make a command. Cyclone was already on the move. She slithered across the stadium field with a burst of found speed, rushing towards Alakazam. She lashed out before Alakazam could react and struck it with her full body. The psychic pokémon rolled backwards, landing with an 'oomph' on its chest. Joe raised a surprised eyebrow. "Or you could do that." He muttered, a little impressed. Cyclone breathed heavily, letting her internal rage vent out through her breath. It was safer than taking it out on the stadium and its occupiers. The tranquil ball taught her to do that somehow. It seemed to keep her in control of her rage, and thank god for it. If he didn't have it Joe would probably be dead already.

Alakazam flipped back onto its feet, as Will called a new battle command. "Reflect!" he yelled. Alakazam passed its spoons across the air in front of it, creating a thin clear shield of energy to weaken its opponent's physical attacks. "Now, use psychic!" Will continued. Alakazam blasted a psychic attack at his titanic opponent.

Joe smiled to himself. He turned to Cyclone who this time was waiting for his instructions. "You got this." He said simply. The red gyarados gave him a large grateful smile, then turned to face the attack.

The fight continued. Cyclone took the blow head on, but suffered little for it. She returned it with her own spiralling waterfall attack. Alakazam was washed by the strike, flying up and then falling back down again. It recovered quickly using Recover and fought back, blasting yet another psychic attack. Once again Cyclone resisted it. Alakazam seemed to be in a bit of trouble.

"Future Sight!" Will commanded. Alakazam sent an attack into the future to strike when Cyclone was least expecting it. Cyclone continued her controlled rampage. She released a plume of dragon fire onto the field, striking Alakazam full on, but the crafty psychic type recovered once more, regaining its lost strength. Once more Alakazam used psychic, which once again did very little to hurt Cyclone. Cyclone lunged at Alakazam with frozen teeth. She snapped her jaw shut as she reached the opponent, but Alakazam had already dodged backwards, avoiding her attack. Cyclone didn't need to move any further to pull off her next attack. She simply pushed herself forwards with a burst of speed, headbutting Alakazam within a simple movement and knocking it onto its back. She reared up to lunge attack again, but as she did so a psychic attack struck her in the back of the head. She recoiled forwards, screeching in surprise. The future attack had hit home, and it had actually done some damage. Will and Alakazam both looked very proud of themselves. The crowd cheered as the fight got more dangerous. Alakazam had just pulled of its first effective attack.

However this turned out to be a not so good decision on their behalf. Because now Cyclone was not only hurt. She was angry. She glared across the field at the two of them. Her very gaze was enough to strike fear into her opponent. Alakazam was said to have an IQ of over 5000. That apparently didn't stop it from being afraid. The great psychic pokémon took a few steps back. Cyclone lowered her head. She wasn't going to let it off so lightly. She readied herself to attack. Then, like a primed coil, she lunged, spinning in a long line of snake like a sideways tornado. Water swirled around her, turning her into a literal cyclone. Alakazam had no way of dodging her attack. It filled up the entire arena with water. He was sucked away under the current, as her massive long body impacted with its. A few seconds later the waters evaporated away, leaving the field as dry as a desert and the audience awestruck. Alakazam was found standing still on its side of the field. It groaned, tilted, tottered, and then fell onto its back. And that was the end. The fight was over.

Neither Joe nor Will could muster up something to say. Will's eyes were wide and stunned. He'd never seen a pokémon do that before. Joe's eyes were also wide, but with a different kind of stunned. Whereas Will was stunned with horror, he was stunned with amazement. There was several seconds of quite, from the trainers, from the announcer and from the audience. This was finally broken when someone began cheering.

"Go, Joe!" They yelled. A second later the entire audience was cheering it. A chorus rang out of chanting his name. Joe smiled a little to himself. Cyclone was sat in a coil in the middle of the field, recovering from the fight it seemed. She glanced at him with the kind of expression a dog would make if it were looking for its owner's approval. Joe smiled and nodded at her in a kind and encouraging way. To his surprise the large sea serpent smiled back. She then continued recovering in the middle of the field before Joe withdrew her, thanking her for her effort.

"I guess you didn't have to do anything to help this time, Ralph." Joe said with a smile, turning to his crobat friend. Ralph's mouth was hanging open. He had several expressions on his face. The main two seemed to be surprise at how Cyclone had won and disappointment that he hadn't gotten a chance to fight. Joe patted him on the back. "Don't worry." He said encouragingly. "You'll probably get a chance to fight in the next one." The speakers bleeped for half a second before the announcer's voice returned.

 _"_ _Well, well, ladies and Gentlemen. It seems that our returning challenger has yet again defeated a member of the Elite Four. And he appears to have done so with a lot of style himself."_ The cheer grew a little louder as Joe was congratulated and Will was humiliated. _"Our challenger will now go on to face the second member of the Elite Four in the next arena through the doorway. We'll see then if he really stands a chance at winning here today."_ Then there was a click as the microphone switched off. The audience continued to cheer his name as Joe stepped away from his stand. Will did the same. He approached the trainer after withdrawing his pokémon, a look of slight disappointment on his face. He held out a hand as he approached.

"Congratulations on defeating me." He said with a kind and respectful smile. "You really did a number on my team."

Joe smiled back. "Thanks." He said. "Sorry about Cyclone. She's a little too aggressive."

"Don't worry. They'll heal by themselves." Will told him. "They usually do. But good luck against the others."

"Thank you." Joe said.

"Seriously, you'll need it." Will continued. Next up is Koga. He's known for being a pretty tough guy to beat. You'll want to keep an eye open around him. Blink for a second and you're dead most likely." Joe took his hand and shook it warmly.

"Thanks for the advice." He said.

Will nodded. "Now get going already… and good luck." Joe nodded to the man. Then he and Ralph walked away, heading through the doors which Will and his pokémon had entered in through. They passed through the doorway as it closed shut behind them, cutting of the excited yells of the crowd. They were officially facing the league now. From here on out they could not lose or turn back. They'd just have to keep going until either they or the opponent wore out.

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 **Johto Elite Four Battle 2 will be up soon.**


	38. Chapter 38: Elite Four: Koga

**Again I'm releasing this chapter early this week just to get it out of the way. This one was a bit more fun to write because of the last fight I put in it. That one I'm proud of. Hopefully these chapters are still fun to read. The next one will be up as soon as possible.**

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Once the large pink doors were closed Joe and Ralph were found yet again to be standing in the darkness of the midsection waiting room. A cheap yellow bulb flickered on ahead, illuminating a small bench for them to wait at. Restlessly they didn't wait a second longer to reach it. Memories of the battling the Kanto Elite Four were flooding back to Joe now. He remembered how he felt when he started the challenge, how amazed he was when he got past the first Elite Four member, and how long he'd had to wait for the next battle to be accessible. All that felt so trivial to what he'd achieved since. Not just in terms of beating the champion. After the fight he'd had with both Archer, his army and the titan Terranius pretty much everything else seemed trivial. At least he wasn't running the chance of getting killed by taking this challenge. He sat down with Ralph by his side and he waited, and waited, and waited. Within that time he was able to revitalise Terrence using one of his revives and wake up Quill and Leaf from their induced slumber. After that all he could do was wait, wait and wait some more. Quickly this became tedious, like it had done before. Ralph began to hum, which only made the waiting more tedious. He was quickly shut up with an annoyed glance. Then, after just over an hour of waiting the door ahead of them began to open. Its metallic creak warned them of its movement, forcing Joe and Ralph from their seat. Then, when it was fully open, they stepped through. The roar of the crowd hit them before the blast of extreme lighting did. The blindness didn't last as long as the previous one, and by now they were used to it. They saw the area ahead of them. It looked about right, knowing that their next opponent was a ninja. The floor was a light and almost chrome shade of black, while the white outline was more of a pail grey. The walls were dark grey and drab. It was like someone had designed the while battlefield to be made of shadows. If someone were to dress in black and lie in one corner of the stadium with their face hidden you'd never know they were there.

It seemed that the Elite Four were ready to continue their test. The crowd were cheering loud, the lights were focused, the smoke machine was running, the cleaning crew were on standby. And it also appeared that the announced had rested his voice, taken a long drink of water, and returned to speak loud through the microphone for everyone to hear. There was the sound of the microphone clicking on through the speakers, a short and held back cough, and then the charismatic deep voice returned once more to speak for the minds of the viewing humans.

 _"_ _Heeeeeeeeello again everyone, and welcome back to the second battle in this trainers challenge against the Johto Elite Four."_ He stated jovially. _"Our challenger, the young master Joseph Glende, who's returning almost half a year after defeating the Kanto League challenge, has already defeated his first opponent, Will the master psychic. But now he faces his second opponent, who, as you all know, in his short time with us had proven himself to be an incredible foe to mess with. Can our challenger deal with such an opponent?"_ The crowd cheered in approval, cheering for him, for the trainer who had made it this far by his own determination. Joe still couldn't believe how much admiration he was getting. He probably didn't deserve it, but right now it was making him feel a tone more confident. He knew that somewhere in the watching mass Winter and his uncle were cheering too. The problem was that their voices were being drowned out by the many other voices. The announced seemed to chuckle through his microphone before continuing. _"Well, it appears that you all believe he can."_ He stated, as if his previous comment had been a joke. As he spoke the far doors began to slide slowly open. These ones were a dark and dangerous shade of deep purple, the same colour as Ralph's skin in fact. It was eerie to look at, as the heavy metal squeaked and scrapped across the floor. The announcer continued. _"And now we introduce our next opponent."_ He stated. _"Once he was a gym leader, now he is one of the strongest trainers in both Kanto and Johto. He's a foe to be reckoned with, a force to keep your eye on at all times, no matter where you are or when you are. He's a ninja so fast he's invisible, and so cunning that he already knows your next move before you even think it."_ There was a quick intake of breath. _"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the poisonous ninja master...!"_ The massive purple steel doors finished opening, a wave of black smoke flooding out of it like a sea rising. _"Please welcome… KOGA!"_

For several seconds nobody stepped out of the dark. Then, in a sudden arriving blur of motion, a man in a black martial arts robe, purple belt, red flailing cape and metal knee and shin tall boots appeared outside the smoking doorway. He had barely even taken a step. It appeared that somehow he'd literally just appeared there. He relaxed from his pose and stood with his arms crossed behind him and his legs apart. He stared at Joe with his tiny black irises and slanted eyebrows. He appeared to be reading him like the blurb of a book. With a slow moving step he moved forwards, walking towards his end of the field.

"So, you're my challenger." He muttered in a low but level voice. "I can't say you look to impressive, but looks are easily deceiving." He glanced at Ralph. "Though the fact that you have a crobat with you is a pretty promising sign." He smiled from the corner of his mouth. "As you just heard, my name is Koga and I am the second member of the Johto Elite Four." He swiftly moved an arm up, bashing his fist against his chest in a martial arts manner. "What is your name?"

"Joe." Joe told him simply, showing no reaction or look of being impressed. "I am Joe Glende, and my crobat is called Ralph." Koga raised a quick thick eyebrow.

"Aren't you the kid who defeated Team Rocket?" Koga asked.

"Twice." Joe told him. The man looked genuinely surprised.

"Really?" He asked. Joe nodded. "Wow." Koga muttered. "Then you really must be good." He chuckled a little. "Janine really was right about you then."

"You know Janine?" Joe asked. Then he mentally slapped himself in the face. "Of course you do." He corrected himself. "You were the gym leader of Fuchsia city before she was, weren't you." Koga smiled and nodded.

"I'm a little more than that." Koga corrected. "She's my daughter, not just my successor." Joe was actually a little surprised by that. He could vaguely recall Janine saying something about obtaining her place as a gym leader through another family member, but quite honestly he'd forgotten all about it.

"And she told you about my battle with her?" Joe asked. Koga nodded.

"She was quite impressed by you. Apparently you beat her little trial she has quite successfully. She didn't stop admiring that little fight you had for weeks." Joe was a little unsure how he felt about hearing that.

"And you don't use that kind of trial yourself?" He decided to ask. It was worth a check, just in case he found himself having to out-speed or out-dodge an opponent. To his relief Koga shook his head.

"No, it's only Janine who does that." He told him. "I prefer to fight my opponents the old fashion way, with a lot of speed and a lot of force." Joe was starting to wonder which method of combat was more appealing to him at this point. Koga had a weirdly intimidating aura to him. The kind that, instead of screaming 'I will destroy your corpse right now!' whispered something more along the lines of 'The next time you blink you'll open your eyes to find your head has abandoned your body'. He wasn't going to lie to himself, the man made him feel a bit on edge. Koga suddenly clapped his hands together. "So, are we going to stand around all day and chat like a couple of old grannies, or are we going to fight?"

Joe nodded. "Of course." He said. His hand slowly reached for a pokeball. "I mean I got this far." He muttered to himself. "I wouldn't want to waste it all on harmless words."

Koga smiled also. "My thoughts exactly." He agreed. "You're pretty quick minded, but we'll see how quick your pokémon are in comparison. Especially your crobat." Ralph glared unthankfully back at him.

 _"_ _Trainers, take your places!"_ The announcer blurted through the speakers. Joe and Koga stepped up to their podiums, their hands by their sides. Simultaneously they both unclipped and withdrew one pokeball, the pokémon inside as yet unknown. Koga's eyes narrowed like personal sniper scopes. He never took them off Joe and his pokémon. _"Let the Battle… Begin!"_

Both trainers threw their pokeballs.

"Go Terrence!" Joe called.

"Go Weezing!" Koga shouted.

Both pokémon appeared on their sides of the field. Terrence scrapped his large elephant feet back across the plastic floor, while Weezing exhaled a ball of sickly gas to keep itself levitating. Joe rolled his eyes a little. He'd seen too many Koffings and Weezings in his time as a trainer, mainly under the command of a Team Rocket Grunt or Commander. This one looked as though it would be no tougher to fight, even if it was owned by a member of the Elite Four. But, like Koga had said a minute ago, looks are deceiving. It was Joe who made the first move.

"Terrence, use Horn Attack!" He commanded. Terrence stomped forwards, his heavy lumber turning into a stampeding charge in the span of five seconds. He rushed at his large levitating opponent tusks first.

"Smokescreen in place!" Koga snapped quickly. Weezing expanded, then deflated, releasing a plume of black smoke around itself. Terrence lost sight of the expanded poisonous ball, but he didn't stop his charge. He rushed into it, and passed straight through the other side. With a confused look around Terrence turned, staring back at the black ball of mist behind him. "Now Tackle!" Koga commander just as quickly. Terrence glared at the smoke and charged in again.

"Terrence, no!" Joe called, but his pokémon couldn't stop in time. The second the bulky donphan reached the edge of the smoke the larger body of Weezing lashed out, bashing him in the head and knocking him a few feet back with surprising force. Terrence groaned as he recovered his balance and stood up once more. He glared and growled at the smoke engulfed opponent. Joe knew for a fact that Terrence was not going to be able to land a hit inside the smoke ball. The black plume was too thick for him to see through, and Weezing was just waiting for him inside. He'd either have to wait for it to fade away, or do something about removing it quicker. Then he had an idea. "Terrence, try blowing the smoke away!" He called. The armoured elephant looked a little confused as to how that would help, but he did as he was told. Terrence inhaled, then exhaled through his thin but long trunk. The gust of air he created was strong, surprisingly so. It caught up the smoke and pushed it back a little, parting it so the bulky ground type could see through it. As the smoke pushed back a small glance of purple skin became visible. Terrence reasoned that this must be the hiding opponent. Without a second command he charged into the smoke. He hit something large and heavy and hulking and movable. Weezing rolled out the other side of the smoke ball, wincing as the full force of the attack struck it in the side. It coughed and wheezed a few times. Terrence stepped slowly back out of the smoke, the black ball of gaseous ink fading away finally.

"Sludge it!" Koga called is his quiet but quick shout. Weezing's mouth swelled up as poison filled up inside it. A second later it spat it out, the ball of poison hitting Terrence in the face. He recoiled in surprise and disgust, the purple gunk dripping down his face in sticky droplets. He growled at Weezing, letting his annoyance and anger get to him. Weezing was genuinely surprised. It had expected its attack to do more damage than it had. But Terrence had just shaken it off. The last drops of poison slid down his back and into the ground. He was unharmed from the attack, and there was no side effect.

Terrence made his own attack. Now that Weezing was grounded it was vulnerable to ground type moves. He raised his front feet. Weezing quickly realised what he was going to do. It tried to get up again, but couldn't. It couldn't even back up an inch. Terrence dropped back to his feet, stomping with massive force into the ground. The floor shook and cracked. The area under Weezing was effected the worst. Literal shards of earth broke through the ground as it rumbled and cracked open beneath it. Weezing was battered and bruised as the earth bellow it shook furiously. When the attack finally stopped the large poison type ball lay crumpled and beaten where it had been lying, barely able to inhale or exhale any form of gas. Terrence stood over it, pleased with himself.

Koga was not terrible worried by this, nor was he surprised. He knew how to resolve this problem. "Weezing, use your finishing move!" He called. Weezing suddenly grinned. Terrence stared at it with confusion. Joe also stared. He glanced from Koga's smile to Weezings smile. And then it dawned on him.

"Terrence, get away from it!" He called. Terrence looked back confused. And as he did so, Weezing exploded. The force was massive. It shook the entire building. It send dirt flying up, it send air rushing out, and it even made the glass ceiling shake. When it ended there was a black crater where Weezing lay, smoke rising around it. It was most definitely defeated. Terrence landed several metres back with loud impact. He lay on his side, groaning, his grey skin charred with ash and dust. Joe was open mouthed. His mouth grew even wider when he saw Terrence stand up again and prepare to fight once more. It appeared that the sturdy donphan was not down just yet.

Koga had to admit he was impressed. The opponent pokémon had been standing at the centre of a forced explosion, created by a highly trainer weezing no less, and somehow it was not only still standing but was also apparently strong enough to keep fighting. He had to give it to Joe, he clearly had strong, determined pokémon, if not terribly smart. He silently withdrew Weezing from the field, leaving the smoking crater where it was. When his pokémon was withdrawn he clipped it back to his belt. The score board to the side of the room changed, showing that Koga had lost one pokémon. The score now read as 5:4 to Joe. This was pretty common for gym fights and league fights it appeared. Koga watched the score change. Then he turned back to Joe, smiling.

"I have to admit, I didn't expect your pokémon to survive that." He said honestly. "Maybe I misread your abilities. But I imagine we'll soon find out how good you actually are. After all, you never send out your best pokémon first." Joe rolled his eyes. He had heard enough of these speeches before, and they were all the same boring footnotes.

"Send out your next pokémon already." He muttered. Unfortunately Koga's sharp ears heard him say that. He narrowed his eyes disrespectfully.

"I wouldn't speak that way to your elders if I were you." He said. "You might regret it." He unclipped his next pokémon and released it. "Go Muk!" He yelled.

The pokeball struck, and released the large pile of sentient toxic sludge known as Muk. Joe wasn't surprised that Koga had one of these. Pretty much every strong poison type trainer had a Muk. Janine had a Muk. But that fact did stop them from being strong, and tough, pokémon to fight. Joe glanced over at Terrence. He seemed eager to keep fighting, but even from here it was obvious he had suffered injuries. Joe hoped he could keep up the fight long enough to win it. Once he'd defeated Muk Joe would withdraw him and let him rest for now. But first he had to clean away a nasty stain on the battlefield, and sadly this stain was able to fight back.

"Terrence, use mud slap!" Joe commanded. The heavily armoured elephant pokémon stomped his way across the battlefield towards the opponent. Muk watched intrigued as he came in to attack. He stopped about a metre away from the opponent before spraying a cluster of mud at it. Muk scrunched up its face as the dirt splatted onto its oozing body. The wet earth rolled down its rippling skin and to the ground. It didn't appear to have done much. Now it was time for Muk to attack back.

"Pound!" Koga snapped. Muk swung its massive purple ooze arm forward, bashing Terrence in the side. Joe's donphan stumbled back a little, the attack creating a surprising amount of force. And while Terrence was recovering from his attack Muk took the chance to build up its defence. It began to ooze out a thicker texture of slime from its body which hardened like rock around its body, creating a makeshift natural armour to protect itself better. Terrence finally focused back on the fight, his angry eyes glaring at the pile of sentient gloop with eyes and arms. He scrapped his foot and charged horn first. While he managed to strike Muk he was surprised to find his attack didn't do much to hurt it. Muk laughed and slapped him back again, following the pound attack up with a sludge bomb. Terrence wasn't quick enough to avoid it. The force did more damage than the poison shrapnel. Terrence was kicked several metres back by the large explosion of burning sludge. He winced as the poisonous material seared his skin. Thankfully it slid off his armour and didn't poison him. But now he was more tired than he had been, and he was unrelentingly angry. That meant he was more likely to act violently then think about his next move. In fact he was already attacking again. As Joe watched he saw his pokémon charge towards his opponent, head lowered and tusks pointing ahead. Joe rubbed his face with embarrassment as he then watched Terrence get flung backwards once more by a powerful shoving from Muk.

"Come on, Terrence." Joe muttered to himself. He cupped his hands and began shouting instructions. "Use Rollout on it!" Terrence heard the instructions, and then smiled to himself. He curled up, rotated on the spot and then shot forwards. He sped at Muk like a free roaming rubber tire that had been removed from a moving race car. This time Muk didn't have a cunning way to fight back. Terrence crashed into the pile of goo and rolled straight over it. His rotating armoured body left a tire mark on Muk's body. Making a quick turnaround, Terrence came back in and passed again over the flattened Muk. And again he came back. And again. And again. When he was done Muk wasn't much more than a trodden purple pancake. The opponent's poisonous sentient flat bread creature groaned weakly, its mouth physically fused to its body by force. Muk currently looked like roadkill, except in comparison Roadkill looked as if it had just gotten ready for a suit and tie dinner date. But, somehow and to everyone's surprise, Muk was still willing to fight. It slowly pushed itself up, inhaling air to inflate its body and 'stand' up once more. It turned on the spot and faced Terrence once more, marks still running down its face and body. Joe felt impressed by how enduring it was. He also felt his confidence drop by a mile. Koga gritted his clean white teeth.

"Muk, Sludge Bomb Barrage!" He commanded. Muk created a sludge bomb, except this one was bigger than the usual ones. He aimed it and threw it upwards. It exploded in mid-air, and from it fell a diving barrage of poisonous warheads.

"Quick, take Muk down before it hits you!" Joe snapped. Terrence didn't need instructing twice. He sped forwards in a final rollout. The multiple sludge bombardments fell down onto the field. He zigzagged out of their way, doing his best to avoid the explosions they created. A shower of slime was thrown up as each impacting bomb exploded. No matter how quick Terrence was he could not dodge the raining slime shrapnel. But this didn't stop him, and Muk was not going anywhere. With a final determined burst of speed he shot forwards and struck Muk straight in the gut. The attack was so powerful that it uprooted the slime pile from its sticky positioning to the ground. Muk flew up, then back for several metres, and then it landed again. Its body practically splatted into a flat pile, its eyes bobbling at the top as tried to reform itself. Terrence didn't stop either. He continued his rollout. Muk didn't get a chance to recover. Three seconds after it had landed again it was struck once more. And this was the last attack it saw, before it blacked out. Terrence skidded to a halt, the barrage of poison finally ending and Muk lying in a defeated ooze pile. This fight was already over.

The crowd applauded wildly. A chant began again for Joe and his pokémon. Koga withdrew his second pokémon as the scoreboard changed once more. Now it read 5:3 to Joe. And now he had to keep a promise he'd made himself.

"Terrence, come back." Joe called. He opened the pokeball and withdrew Terrence from the battlefield. When he had returned he placed the ball back onto his belt. "Good job, buddy." Joe praised. He was proud of him. Terrence had defeated two of Koga's pokémon quite successfully. But he was clearly getting tired, and Joe didn't want him collapsing.

The announcer returned once more to explain the situation to the audience. _"Koga is already down to three pokémon. This isn't looking too good for him at the moment, but it could still easily go either way. Will our challenger be able to defeat the second member of the Elite Four so easily? I feel we'll soon find out."_ And then he finished, his microphone switching off. Joe began to wonder why his job consisted of simply telling the audience what they were seeing while they were seeing it. This thought was quickly distracted by Koga preparing to send out his next pokémon. The second of the Elite Four held his pokeball out, preparing to throw it. So Joe did the same. He unclipped one of his own pokeballs, preparing it in his hand for the next fight to take place.

The two trainers released their pokémon, sending the pokeball flying onto the field. Both balls snapped open, and two pokémon appeared. On Koga's side a large and nasty looking venomoth appeared, and on Joe's side was Quill. Yet again Koga was poorly matched for this fight, but that wasn't going to stop him.

"Venomoth, psychic!" Koga instructed.

"Flame wheel!" Joe called.

Venomoth unleashed a powerful psychic attack. Quill rolled up into a flaming ball and sped towards Venomoth. This time however he failed to land an attack. He passed through the psychic, expecting to be unharmed by it as usual. But this time he was thrown backwards, landing on his flaming side in surprise. It appeared that Venomoth's attack was stronger than it should have been, especially considering that it was not a psychic type. Quill recovered quickly and tried again, this time rushing at Venomoth with a strength attack. Again Venomoth pushed him back, this time using a worryingly strong gust of wind created from its wings. Unable to push back against the attack Quill resorted to fighting at range. He blasted Venomoth with a flamethrower, and this seemed to do the trick. The tip of the flame pillar hit Venomoth's abdomen, charring its body with ash and cinders. It was hurt quite badly, but somehow it was still going. It retaliated with another gust, except this one was intended to hurt rather than push back. Quill managed to push through it, coming out the other side with minimal injuries. He retaliated with a rollout attack, which ended up finishing of Venomoth in the end. But before it could be taken down the crafty bug released a supersonic, which hit Quill just before his third attack. He managed to land the hit, but the only consequence was he came to a skidding halt as his body uncurled. Thankfully though Venomoth was already defeated. Koga withdrew his third pokémon, as the scoreboard changed once more. Joe withdrew Quill, knowing he was only going to struggle with fighting in a confused state. It was best that one of his other pokémon took over for now.

There was a roaring cheer from the audience. They were getting very excited. So far Joe had lost no pokémon. He had withdrawn two, but they could still come back in if he needed them too. At the moment it seemed as though he'd get a successful run without losing any of his team. Koga however was willing to disagree.

They sent out their next pokémon, which turned out to be Pippy on Joe's side, and an Ariados on Koga's side. Joe had never battled an ariados before, so this fight was going to be a bit more interesting. He started with instructing Pippy to test it with thunderbolt. He didn't want to send him rushing into a physical fight. He had a feeling that this pokémon would most likely try to eat him if he got close. Ariados was struck by the attack, but it didn't appear to be hurt too much. It retaliated with double team. Pippy growled as his opponent pulled of one of his own tricks. Before he knew it there was a row of moving giant spiders right in front of him, and they were slowly edging closer. Unsure what to do the chubby orange mouse began zapping each in turn, wasting a lot of his energy in doing so. Slowly the Ariados illusion drew closer and closer. Finally Pippy hit the real one, causing all the illusions around it to fade away. But by this point his opponent was already close enough to attack. Ariados shot Pippy with a clump of stick strong silk. Within seconds Joe's Raichu found himself entangled and tied down by a large and worryingly strong web. He tried to break free of it, but Ariados had a better idea. The web sparked with static as Pippy tried to break it off, but he found that he couldn't. The hungry spider edged closer, its mandibles clicking excitedly. It reached the trapped Raichu, and placed its hairy foot on the edge of the netting, glaring it at the caught opponent. And Pippy, in an act of terrified defence, sparked furiously. The audience gasped as they saw what happened next. A lightning storm fell down from above. A massive bolt of pure electricity hit Ariados in the back before it could even react. The spider flew backwards, electricity propelling its flight. The web ignited with the static and burned away. Pippy was free again. But as it turned out he didn't need to do anything more to take out Ariados. The spider had been barbecued like a chunk of stake that had been left over the fire for too long. It lay on its back, its eight legs pointing upwards.

Koga withdrew Ariados from the battle field. He was down to one pokémon now, and Joe still had his whole team. Things weren't looking too good for him. The crowd were getting very excited. They cheered and whooped and chanted the boy's name like it was the title of a god. Even the announcer was on his side.

 _"_ _It looks like Koga is in a tricky situation, ladies and Gentlemen. Does he even still stand a chance at winning? Well, we'll just have to find out."_

Koga shook his head. No, he knew when he was beaten. No matter how strong his final pokémon was he wouldn't be able to take out five pokémon like this. He reached for his last pokeball. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying to take one of them with him at least. He released the pokeball and sent out his last pokémon.

Everyone on Joe's team was surprised by his last pokémon, especially Ralph. For him it was like looking in a mirror. From Koga's final pokeball appeared an older but more experienced looking crobat. Joe was honestly surprised. He hadn't been expecting to ever face a crobat, but it looked like today he was going to. He turned and saw Ralph's expression. Joe then realised that he'd probably never met another of his species before. They'd certainly not seen anyone use a crobat on their team in either Johto or Kanto. This was the first time either of them had seen another crobat, and it was a shock. Koga's crobat glared back at them. It didn't appear to have the friendly personality that Ralph had. This bat was a hardened warrior, with no room for softness or kindness in its heart. That organ was needed for pumping blood around its body. Koga crossed his arms and stood sideways on, smiling smartly to himself.

"It appears we have a snap situation." He called across to Joe. "You're not the only one with a Johto rarity it seems." Joe was not too sure what he meant, but he could only assume he was talking about the rarity of seeing a crobat, wild or domesticated. He had to prepare to fight it. He turned back to his pokémon.

"Okay Pippy, use…."

"Poison Fang!" Koga interrupted. Joe looked up at him again. There was a blur of purple, and before anyone could react Koga's crobat had attacked. It grabbed Pippy in its large jaw and bit down, its sharp venomous fangs biting into Pippy's stomach. The orange mouse screamed in pain. The whole audience gasped. Joe stood open eyed and speechless. The attack came so quickly that he couldn't have predicted it. "Now wing attack!" Koga commanded. Crobat let go of Pippy, let him fall for a second, and then rotated and struck him in the side with a sharp ridged wing. The large mouse was hit so hard that he landed at Joe's feet, a crumbled and injured pile of unconsciousness.

Joe's mouth dropped open. The crowd went silent. And then they began cheering again. The battle had just become promising. Koga looked at Joe, saw the anger in his eyes, and continued to look at him from the distance. Joe clenched his fist. That attack had been unprovoked. He hadn't needed to be so vicious with it. And this crobat was terrifying quick. Ralph wasn't that fast. You could usually see Ralph move. But this one, this one was practically invisible until it stopped. A small pit of worry opened up in his stomach. As he withdrew Pippy from the field he saw the scoreboard change. It now read 4:1 to him, which was still good, but considering Koga was using a very powerful Crobat it could easily change course.

Joe prepared to send out another pokémon to fight, but his hand was stopped by a friendly purple wing. He turned. Ralph was looking at him, shaking his head. Joe stared back.

"You want to fight it?" He asked. Ralph nodded. Joe glanced back at Koga. His crobat was waiting patiently at its end of the field, waiting for its next target to take out. "Are you sure?" He asked. "That thing's really strong, and fast. I don't want you getting hurt badly." Ralph gave him a look. It said 'shut up'. Joe sighed. As much as he was worried about his friend's safety he did know that Ralph was his best chance at beating it. While his other pokémon may have a few type advantages, Ralph was the only one fast enough to get the chance to land any attacks. "Alright." Joe agreed. "Just be careful, okay." Ralph nodded. With a slow flutter of his four wings he took his place on the battlefield. And battle began once again. "Ralph, use Steel W…"

"Wing Attack!" Koga counted commanded. Ralph heard his opponents command and dodged aside, hoping to avoid being hit. But he hadn't counted on his opponent changing course. Instead of attacking him head on, Crobat struck from the side. Ralph yelled in pain as a sharp wing from his own species struck him in the spine. Crobat flew back around the ring, grinning maliciously as it soared. Ralph groaned and growled at his opponent. This was the first other crobat he'd ever met, and it was a bastard! Crobat came to a halt back at its trainer's side, waiting again for a chance to strike.

"Ralph, quickly strike it with Steel Wing while it's stationary!" Joe instructed quietly. Ralph nodded, and flew in with a burst of speed to attack.

"Detect!" Koga called quickly. His crobat chuckled, its eyes flashing for just a second. Ralph flew in and attacked. He swung his wing down to chop his opponent. But, to his astonishment, Crobat blocked him. Its wing was held up, pushing Ralph's glistening metal wing back with minimal effort. With a shove Ralph's attack was disarmed. He lashed out with his other wing in desperation, but Crobat dodged down, avoiding it. It then proceeded to make its own attack, lashing up with a wing attack and striking Ralph from underneath. Ralph screeched in pain as he was struck back. He landed painfully on his spine, his wings out flat by his side.

Koga chuckled. His crobat floated towards its opponent, preparing to finish him of. It raised a sharp wing to strike. But now it was Ralph's time to surprise it. With a sudden movement, he lashed out, striking Crobat with a cross poison. Crobat exclaimed and fluttered a step back, a dark purple X marked onto its skin. It opened one of its eyes again and glared at Ralph. Ralph glared back. The two crobats circled one another, eying each other up and trying to trick them into attacking prematurely. This circling went on for a little while, until finally one of them attacked. Koga's Crobat lashed out with poison fang, trying to bite its younger opponent. Ralph backed up, avoiding each lung as it came. Quickly it changed tactics, reverting to its wings and slashing them down like an enraged scyther. Ralph continued to back up, until he hit the back wall. And when he did Crobat struck out with an even stronger and charged up swipe. But again Ralph dodged it. He shot up into the air, flying above the battlefield as his opponent tried to follow him. Before Crobat could get close enough to strike Ralph dived, hitting his sibling in the head with a full body strike. Both he and Crobat hit the floor, injured. Ralph got up quickly, while Crobat took a minute to recover. When it did, it glared at hi furiously.

"Double Team!" Koga commanded. Crobat laughed maniacally as it split up into multiple images of itself. They circled around Ralph in a purple hazy ring, preparing to attack him at any point.

"Steel Wing!" Joe commanded. Ralph stretched his wing put, let it glisten into hardened metal and proceeded to strike every single illusion with it. He flew around the ring, his wing tip striking each image as he passed it. He had gotten about half way around when Crobat attacked him, lashing out with its own wing at him. Ralph was hit aside, but he quickly recovered and attacked back. He slashed a steel wing across Crobat's belly, causing a silvery scar. Crobat winced and growled, its fangs gnashing furiously. The battle was getting more heated. The crowd was getting very excited. It was rare they got to see two very powerful pokémon of the same species battling each other. For them this was a golden treat. Even the announcer was excited.

"It looks like we have a stalemate of power and speed here, folks." He said, his voice quick and gasping as he blurted out the words. "Looks like our trainers will have to rely on strategy and see which of their pokémon can hold on the longest."

Ralph and Crobat circled each other once more, their long forewings pointed down at their sides like swords at the ready. They were both waiting for their opponent to attack. All they needed to do was flinch, and they would strike back. This circling went on for a little while as the purple warriors tried to figure each other out, trying to predict their next move. Finally they both attacked, and both blocked each other's wing attack with their other wing. This left them in an almost poetic stance, locking wings with one another in deadly combat. But within this lock of bodies not all of them was unable to move. They could still use their teeth. Crobat was the first to realise this. It bet into Ralph's shoulder, piercing his skin with its fangs. Ralph screeched in pain, and retaliated. He headbutted the opponent crobat with his skull, bashing it back. He then proceeded to continue headbutting it, until finally it submitted and let go. Crobat let go of Ralph for second, and that was enough for him to strike back. Ralph made a full floating spin and struck Crobat with immense force in the gut with the ridge of his wing. Crobat grunted and fell back. Ralph didn't stop. He slashed a poisonous X across his opponent's body again, causing Crobat to scream and flinch in pain. It turned around, gasping, trying to get away. But Ralph wasn't letting it go. This fight wasn't over yet. He swooped in, grabbed Crobat under the wings and lifted it high into the air. Crobat struggled and exclaimed, trying to break free, but Ralph refused to let go. A second later he and Crobat dropped from the air, diving down as a couple of purple cannonballs. And, at the last second, Ralph pulled up, letting go of Crobat as he narrowly avoided striking the ground. Crobat however was less lucky. It impacted head first and painfully into the ground. But Ralph wasn't done just yet. As Crobat began to weakly get back up, he made a U-turn, flying back in to attack. Crobat looked up, saw Ralph coming towards it, and sighed. Ralph struck it in the chest, slicing the air open as he did so. He flew past, stopping a few metres on and turning. Crobat collapsed, defeated at last.

This time it was Koga's turn for his mouth to drop open. He stared at his defeated pokémon, unsure what to say. In the end he opted to say nothing. Instead the crowd and Announced did that for him. A whole cheer of 'wow's and 'oh my god's went around the stadium. Someone even shouted 'that was awesome!' from one corner of the stands. A round of intense applause went up for Joe, and for Ralph. They loved Ralph especially. The young crobat found himself blushing a little as he welcomed the loving ovation.

 _"_ _I don't believe it, Ladies and Gentlemen!"_ The announcer yelled. _"Our challenger has just defeated Koga's Crobat, one of the League's most notorious pokémon! Very few have ever defeat it, and certainly not with most of their pokémon left conscious! This truly is a spectacle to behold!"_ The audience continued to cheer and whoop with excitement. _"But let's not get too excited. Our challenger still has two members of the elite four left to fight before he can fight the champion. Stay tuned to see what happens in the next match."_

Ralph returned to his trainer's side and received a massive hug from his friend.

"That was amazing, Ralph." Joe said, smiling at his pokémon. "I can't believe you won that fight. I was worried for a bit there." He patted Ralph on the shoulder. "But of course I had need to worry." He said with a smile. Ralph grinned back.

"I… don't… believe it." Koga muttered. Joe and Ralph turned to see the master ninja kneeling down where he'd been standing. "You… destroyed me… so easily." He muttered. He looked up at Joe. "How?" He asked.

Joe shrugged. "Luck and practice, I guess." He told him. Koga chuckled at this comment.

"You're a talented kid." He muttered. "Janine was right about you. You'll go far. Really far." Joe was starting to worry that the girl might have some feeling for him, which right now wasn't too good. If Winter found out she'd probably kill her. But he smiled all the same.

"Thank you for accepting my challenge." Joe said as respectfully as he could.

At the end of the arena the purple metal doors began to creak open again. Now was the time to move on, it seemed. With a final bow of respect Joe left Koga in the arena, and continued on. He stepped through the doorway as the large doors closed behind him. He smiled to himself. Two down. Two to go.


	39. Chapter 39: Elite Four: Rocky

**This chapter is a bit longer, but the reason for that is to do with who Joe is battling. I'll admit this was the best chapter to write so far for the Johto Elite Four. Again I'm posting it a lot earlier so I have more time to get the rest of the story finished. I probably won't put this much effort into the next one, so a heads up there. Hope you enjoy this chapter all the same, and keep following for more. The last few chapters will come soon enough.**

 **(There's only 3 left after this one!)**

* * *

After another lapse of waiting, which thankfully passed quicker this time, the large metal doors opened again to the next arena. Joe and Ralph glanced from their seats at the opening doors. During his wait Joe had spent a bit of time healing up Pippy, Ralph and Terrence. The three of them, especially Pippy, had taken quite a beating during the previous fight and Joe wanted to make sure they were able to fight still. Thankfully Pippy wasn't too hurt. The attack had mainly just shocked him with how quick it was. He would be able to fight in this match if he needed to. But the problem then came from Joe didn't know who he'd be fighting next. He hadn't heard anything about his next opponent. That could possibly mean that it was someone new to the league. Soon he'd find out. The door had finished opening now, and he found that the cheers of the crowd were pulling him through. He stepped into the light one more, a proud smile on his face. He had gotten this far and it had only just hit him. He really did have something to be proud of.

As he saw the arena he noticed its design. It looked a lot like the kind of stadium you'd get in a pokémon gym. The floor was a light brown like the earth, and across the field in no specific pattern were several boulders, large, small and in-between. It seemed to resemble a rocky mountainside. The audience had filled up the stands around the stadium, cheering him as he entered in. It seemed they were even more excited now than they had been, if that was even possible. Joe's last fight had really impressed them by the look of it. He found that made him feel kind of proud. But he wasn't allowed to dwell on it too long. The announcer returned to interrupt everything with his loud charismatic voice.

 _"_ _Wwwwwwwwwelcome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Johto Elite Four challenge. We're back again to watch our newest challenger, the courageous Joe Glende, take on the league in his attempt to claim championship."_ He stated. Joe wrinkled his nose a little. That wasn't exactly true. He wasn't trying to become the champion. He was just seeing how far he could get, because he had nothing better to do. But the crowd cheered him all the same. _"In our last match he took on Koga, the poisonous ninja master, and managed to defeat his famed crobat which most trainers never get passed. Now he's taking on the third member of the Elite Four, their newest member."_

The large dark brown metal doors on the other side of the field began sliding open. No smoke poured from these ones it seemed. The cheers from the crowd grew louder.

 _"_ _Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen. This will be the first official battle our next Elite Four member will have ever taken inside the stadium itself. In fact I have just been informed that he and our challenger do in fact know each other."_ Joe raised an eyebrow. For a second he wondered who it could be. He couldn't remember anyone he knew being in the Elite Four, apart from Blue but it couldn't be him. The announcer continued on. _"One he was a simple gym leader, now he's a member of the strongest trainers in the region. He's proven himself in trials to be an earthly force to be reckoned with. He's the guy that'll make sure that stones, not sticks, will break your bones. He's as enduring as a mountain, and as ruthless as a shore of jagged rocks in a storm."_

Joe suddenly remembered. He did have a friend who had been trying to join the Elite Four. He metaphorically slapped himself. How could he have forgotten? The guy travelled with him around the whole of Kanto. He felt insulted for him that he could even forget. He glanced to the doors. A figure was stepping through them. Joe knew instantly who he was. He looked a bit different to the last time he'd seen him, but Joe instantly recognised his friend. He smiled happily to himself.

 _"_ _Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please put your hands together for the newest member of the Johto Elite Four… ROCKY!"_

The figure in the doorway stepped out to the cheers of the crowd. Joe found himself grinning a little. Rocky looked exactly as he remembered him. He'd barely changed a bit. He still had the same pail skin, the same curly hair, the same brown eyes, the same slightly stiff walk. The only difference was in his clothes and presentation. He had gotten rid of the grey hoodie and the onix t-shirt, replacing them with a neat brown shirt and grey short sleeved jacket. His hair was slightly combed, and his skin appeared to have picked up a slight tan. He was still the same old Rocky, but he appeared to have changed a lot as well. It was as if he'd suddenly grown up. He had a smile on his face, and it grew even larger when he saw who was challenging him. He raised a hand and waived it at his opponent.

"Heya, Joe." He said, his grin growing even larger. Joe smiled and waved back.

"Hey Rocky." Joe called, his own grin breaking up his words into squeaks. "So you succeeded in getting into the Elite Four then." He said, getting the conversation going with a topic. Rocky nodded eagerly.

"Yep. It wasn't easy, but I managed to do it." He agreed. "And you managed to get here. How's everything been since I left?"

Joe shrugged. "Could've been a bit better, but we survived." He told him. Rocky nodded with a hum.

"I heard you finally stopped Team Rocket." He said topically.

"Yeah, I did." Joe agreed.

"Congrats." Rocky told him kindly. "It can't have been easy. I heard about the attack on Goldenrod City. I'm just glad that the fatalities were low."

"Not all of us made it out." Joe muttered, falling a little depressed after being reminded of the fight… of his father. Rocky's own smile dropped.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. There was a small awkward silence. "So, did you ever find someone to replace me?"

Joe chuckled. "No." Joe told him with a smile. "We did have another trainer join us for a bit, but he's not here today. He certainly was not you." Rocky chuckled.

"And what about you and Winter?" He asked. Joe's smile grew a little red cheeked.

"Well…" He began. "Things happened… and now we're together."

Rocky grinned. "Congratulations." He said with a cheeky smile. "I knew you two would get together at some point. It was so blatant."

"Yes, thank you. You're not the first person to say that." Joe told him, growing a little shy.

"Seriously, you two probably make a great couple." Rocky told him. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." Joe tapped his foot a little. "I don't imagine you got much luck in that area." He said, unsure how to keep the conversation going. Rocky grinned.

"Actually I did." He told him.

"No way." Joe said in personal disbelief.

"Yep." Rocky said.

"Who is she?" Joe asked.

"He." Rocky told him. Joe's smile faded completely.

"Oh." He muttered.

"Yeah." Rocky said. "His name's Greg. You might get to meet him after the battle. He's a great guy. He helped me practice for the league." Joe's mouth was sealed shut by surprise. He knew Rocky was… like that, but... He stopped himself thinking about it. He didn't really know what to say.

"Con…grats." He managed to squeeze the word out though his lips. Rocky smiled.

"Thanks." He said. He could tell Joe was surprised, but he knew he was trying to be respectful. He looked to the crowd. They were getting very excited for a battle. Shouts began echoing out, demanding the match start soon and that the two trainers stop chatting like middle aged women. "I think we ought to start fighting soon." Rocky told his friend. "Else we might have a riot on our hands."

Joe nodded in agreement, knowing that an angry mob was not what they needed swarming the stadium battlefield. If that happened the challenge would probably be cancelled. "Are you using a new team for the league?" Joe asked.

"No." Rocky said, shaking his head. "Apart for a few updates I'm using the same pokémon I had when I travelled with you and Winter."

"Okay." Joe said. That would make things interesting. He'd never battled Rocky's team. He'd only battled Crash, and that was back in Pewter City gym, when they'd first met.

"I'm afraid I can't go easy on you anymore." Rocky told him. "This is a challenge after all. You're supposed to prove yourself. I can't make dud commands just so you can pass."

Joe smiled back. "I wouldn't want you to do that anyway." He told him. "And thanks for the advice, but I wasn't planning to go easy on you either.

Rocky grinned at that. "Good luck, Joe." He said.

"You too." Joe said back. They turned and walked back to their podiums, waiting for the battle to start up.

The announcer returned, his voice cleared and ready to shout some excited dialogue. _"Trainers, take your places!"_ He yelled. Joe and Rocky prepared for battle. Their hands reached for their belts, their fingers unclipping a single pokeball and holding it in their hands. The crowd cheered with excitement as the match began. _"Let the Battle… begin!"_

There was a throw of hands as two pokeballs flew out onto the battlefield.

"Go Pippy!"

"Go Crash!"

The two pokémon appeared on their trainer's side of the field. Pippy flexed his thin black tail, ready to fight. And then he saw his opponent. It was the same old Crash. He hadn't changed a bit. He was still an onix. Rocky hadn't decided to evolve him. Joe could only guess he'd decided against it. A Steelix probably wouldn't have fit into his team to well. Rocky laughed as he saw Joe's pokémon appear.

"Well, you evolved Pippy finally." He said through an intake of breath before continuing his laugh. "Do you not remember what happened the last time Pippy battled Crash?" He asked. Joe raised a taunting eyebrow.

"I didn't forget." He guaranteed him. "And Pippy's a lot stronger now than he was then."

"Yet I still have the advantage." Rocky reminded him. He pointed a finger. "Crash, use sandstorm!" He instructed. Crash tensed his body, and as he did so the sand and dust lying around the stadium floor began to spiral slowly around it. Gradually the floating particles gained speed, forming a massive spiralling vortex of sand around the arena. Pippy could barely see. He had to cover his mouth to stop himself choking on rock pieces. The sandstorm was scaring his fur and skin, causing small amounts of damage to him over time. Joe could barely even see through the storm. But luckily for him Crash couldn't see too well either. Only when he got close could he pick out his target. So that gave Joe an advantage in the evasion area, and fortunately Pippy was good at evading things.

"Double Team!" Joe called. Pippy split himself into a long row of copies. So when Crash finally showed up again, charging forwards with a full on slam attack he couldn't tell which was the real raichu. Instinctively he went for the one straight ahead of him, but when that image vanished he found himself lost in a sea of sand and mice. The pippy images surrounded him, encircling him in a ring of Raichu. The real Pippy waited hidden between them for the right time to attack. Crash looked around. He didn't know which image was real and which was not. Unfortunately for Pippy he had a move that would sort that problem out. He curled his tail around, let the tip glow silver and metallic, and then swung it around. His iron tail swiped through each of the images, making them evaporate into nothing the second he struck them. The real Pippy dodges the attack as it came in, jumping up and landing on the tail as it swung under him. Holding onto Crash's tail he waited for the large rock snake to stop moving before trying to scurry up its spine. Crash stared at the Raichu rushing up his tail. He glared with annoyance and flicked his tail up. Pippy was kicked from his place, only just grabbing Crash's rock skin and holding on as the much larger pokémon tried to throw him up into the air. In desperation he charged static and fired it down into Crash's skin. It did absolutely nothing but crackle and neutralise. With a might swing Crash threw his tail aside. This time Pippy could not hold on. He was thrown across the battlefield, landing with a wince onto the hard ground and stopping against a boulder. He slowly pushed himself up, wincing with pain and embarrassment. For a second of desperation he'd forgotten that Crash was a ground type. He looked around, trying to spot the titanic stone serpent. The sandstorm was starting to thin a little. In the distance he spotted the movement or rock body segments. An idea popped into his head. With no regard for his own life Pippy began waving his arms up in the air and shouting at the top of his voice. And Crash heard him. The large snake turned and saw a Raichu waving at him through the whirling sand. He smiled with his rigid stone mouth and charged to attack. He slithered in with surprising speed, like a rampant boulder train, and struck the unaware opponent. As he did so he also hit the large boulder it was standing in front of. The boulder shattered, imploding and showering Crash with large pieces of rock. As for the opponent he had hit, it had evaporated into a pile of dust. Wincing with the pain of striking a tough solid object Crash didn't notice the Raichu landing on his back. Pippy had jumped from behind his substitute just before Crash hit it and had managed to land on the back of his head. Taking full advantage of his situation the Raichu grabbed the Onix's horn and tugged it back. Crash reared, yelling in surprise as something else began to steer for him. He thrashed his head, trying to shake him off, but Pippy was going nowhere. Pippy sparked, and Crash started moving again. He slithered forwards, saw another boulder, and crashed head first into it. Pippy stayed hanging on. He sparked, and the same thing happened. Crash turned around, slithered along till he found another boulder, and crashed into it. He was starting to get dizzy. Pippy didn't hold up. He sparked once more, and Crash set of again. However this time things went a little differently. Half way to the next boulder Crash stopped, fighting back against the Raichu that was messing around with his head. He began swinging his head around back and forth and to the sides. Pippy quickly lost his footing, relying on his grip to hold on desperately to the horn as he was thrown from side to side. He sparked again, but this time it did nothing. Crash continued to throw his head around, until finally Pippy could hold on no longer. His fingers slipped, and then he was sailing backwards across the room. He landed with a final impact on the ground, coughing as sand filled his lungs. He wheezed a little. Crash panted, exhausted from hitting so many boulders. He spotted the injured Raichu lying a few metres away as the sandstorm began to subside. He knew how to finish it off. He slithered over. Pippy tried to get back up, but as he did so Crash arrived. The last thing he was able to do was stand up on his two back feet, before Crash swept them out from under him. With one final move Crash took the Raichu down, swinging his glistening steel tipped tail around and hitting Pippy in the side. The Raichu was thrown over ten metres away. He eventually landed at his own trainer's feet, beaten and battered. Joe immediately picked him up, holding his injured friend in his arms. Pippy groaned. His whole body was covered in bruises. Joe sighed.

"You tried your best, buddy." He said, unclipping Pippy's pokeball. "You deserve a rest now." Pippy managed to smile slightly before he was withdrawn. Joe clipped the ball back to his belt. He had to admit this one had been his mistake. He thought Pippy could have outsmarted and out-speed Crash. He was wrong in that believe. But he knew it wasn't Pippy's fault. He'd tried his best, but it was inevitable he'd lose. Crash sat in the middle of the field, looking rather smug for a rock creature. The scoreboard at the side of the arena showed a drop on Joe's side. It was now reading 4:5 to Rocky.

 _"_ _What a turn of events, ladies and gentlemen!"_ The announcer shouted through the speakers. _"Our challenger, who so far has been the first to K.O each time, has just been shown a taste of his own medicine. Can he recover from this poor match-up, or is this only going to get worse for him."_ The crowd began cheering as they got even more excited for the next fight.

"Serious, I don't know what you were thinking sending Pippy out like that." Rocky called from his end. "It just ended the same way it did last time."

Joe looked back, making sure his poker face was on. "I wanted to see if it would go differently." He admitted. "And he did. He actually managed to hurt Crash this time."

"Only because of the boulders." Rocky reminded him. "But enough talking. You need to send out your next pokémon."

Joe unclipped a pokeball. Rocky was being so snidely cocky, so he was going to give him a taste of his own medicine. He unclipped Leaf's pokeball, and released the Meganium onto the battlefield.

Leaf took a look at his large opponent, and did not cower away. That was a good sign. In the past he would have been scared, but no longer. Now he was standing stern against his opponent. Crash just chuckled to itself with a gritty laugh. It saw no threat in the overgrown plant opposing it. Carelessly he slithered forwards, trying to slam his new target.

"Razor Leaf!" Joe called. Leaf fired a row of sharp edged crescent leaves at the onix. It was at this point Crash realised he may actually be in trouble. The attack not only struck him, it smashed him. The rearing snake winced and screeched as the super effective attack sliced his hard shell like it was nothing more than thin cardboard. Crash realised it might be a good idea to back up. But in the end that did nothing to help him.

"Rock slide!" Rocky commanded quickly Crash attempted to drop a pile of rocks on top of Leaf, but his opponent had already attacked. Another barrage of razor leafs hit Crash in the chest. That was enough to topple him. The much larger onix was taken down by a simple grass type attack. Crash hit the floor and did not get back up, the sandstorm vanishing with him. Rocky was surprised, mainly by how quickly things had changed. The scoreboard dropped down to an equal 4:4 for both sides.

 _"_ _It looks like our challenger had indeed turned the tables again."_ The announcer told the crowd. _"But can he keep it up, that is the question."_

Rocky withdrew Crash from the field, clipping his pokeball back to his belt. He unclipped another pokeball. His facial expression quickly changed from sad surprise to suspicious grinning. He held the pokeball up in his hand.

"Well, you've seen one old friend." Rocky said, preparing to throw the pokeball. "Let's introduce you to another." He released the pokeball, throwing it out into the field. It snapped open and released a macho, bulky and buff pokémon. Joe recognised him instantly. It was chopper, the machop that Rocky had caught back in Mt Moon. He'd certainly grown a lot since the last time he'd seen him. He had an extra pair of arms now, and his mouth had become a beak. He was also wearing a wrestling belt and underwear. Chopper flexed his four champion arms invigoratingly. He grinned cheekily at his opponent with a winking eye and a rising eyebrow. Joe smiled to himself.

"You evolved Chopper even further." He muttered. Rocky nodded.

"Yep, and it wasn't that hard either." He admitted. "Having a Machamp is surprisingly more useful than a machoke. The extra pair of arms allows him to carry more."

"I bet." Joe muttered. "And other things…" He added.

"What?" Rocky asked.

"Nothing!" Joe coughed. "Let's get back to fighting."

The two trainers dropped that conversation in favour of continuing the fight. Chopper squared off against Leaf, the two pokémon trying to size each other up. Chopper was winning. Then finally one of them made a move.

"Cross Chop!" Rocky called. Chopper rushed up the battlefield, his four arms bulking up to make attacks.

"Prepare to dodge." Joe instructed. Leaf stayed stationary, focusing his mind on his movement so that dodging would be a little easier. Chopper came charging in, his arms pulling back ready to attack. The back pair had started to rotate like helicopter blades, making chopping sounds as they did so. It was certainly an interesting sight. It didn't take long for Chopper to arrive on scene. He immediately lashed out, barely waiting to reach Leaf as he did so. But Leaf had been tensing and prepared for this. He jumped aside just as the two front palms came chopping down and the back pair followed suit. This left Chopper rather annoyed. He had been aiming for a large root plant, but what he'd hit was thin air. He turned on the now backing up Leaf. "Toxic!" Joe instructed. Leaf forced poison up from the ground. Chopper took a step forwards, and then felt something spine into his foot. He looked down. A pool of poison had formed under him, bubbling through the plastic surface. He jumped back, but the damage was already done. His foot had swollen up, colouring purple. Eventually it would bring him down. But for now he was still on his two feet, and that meant Leaf was still in danger from an attack. And what's more, Chopper was angry about being poisoned. He bulked himself up, and then charged again. This time Leaf wasn't quick enough to avoid his attacks. Chopper struck him head on with a fire punch. Leaf recoiled, the flame engulfed fist singing his soft skin. In desperation Leaf rushed at his opponent and body slammed him in the chest. Chopper held his ground, Leaf's huge body pushing him back as his heels dug into the floor.

"Submission!" Rocky commanded. Leaf blinked, suddenly realising how stupid he'd been to charge in and attack head first. Chopper's four arms grabbed him around the back and waist, and before he knew it Leaf was being lifted upwards. Chopper grappled him into his chest, and then flung himself backwards. He did a full back flip before landing face first on the ground, crushing Leaf underneath him. He slowly pushed himself back up, turned to the crowd and held his right arms up like a victorious wrestler. The audience cheered with excitement. When Chopper was done showing off to them he turned back to Leaf. The Meganium was slowly getting back to his feet. He was bruised and tired, but he could still fight back. This remained a fact for about the seconds. The second Leaf was ready to attack again he was struck in the side of the head with another fire punch. He collapsed, defeated. Chopper turned once more to the crowd and pumped his arms for them. A roar of approval went around the room.

Joe's eyes were wide in surprise. He hadn't seen that defeat coming so soon. Chopper was a lot stronger then he'd expected him to be. That extra pair of arms really were more useful to have around. But now he was down by two pokémon, and he only had three left. And only one of them had a type advantage over fighting types. He withdrew Leaf, feeling sorry that he'd let him stay in that fight, and turned to Ralph. He didn't need to say anything. Ralph already knew it was his turn. He nodded back to his trainer and floated out onto the field. Chopper turned the second he heard his wings flap towards him. He grinned to himself through his beaked mouth. Finally he'd get to find Ralph, Joe's strongest and closest pokémon companion. He was excited for this. He'd wanted to battle Ralph for ages, and now he was finally getting his chance.

"Things are looking a little bad for our challenger here." The announced spoke up once more as the score dropped to 3:4 on the scoreboard. "Can his crobat possibly make a comeback for him? Let's find out!" Rocky hummed.

"So I get to fight Ralph again?" Rocky said with a smile. "I'm intrigued to see how this turns out."

Joe smiled back. He didn't say it, but he was also intrigued. Ralph was ready to fight. Chopper was definitely ready to fight. With a simple command the battle continued.

"Thunder Punch!" Rocky commanded. Chopper pulled back a massive fist, let it spark with yellow static, and then lunged with it. And Ralph dodged aside, like a sleek purple ninja. Chopper stumbled past him, not expecting his opponent to evade so quickly in barely a seconds passing. He turned, growling. He went in for a normal punch. Ralph again dodged backwards. The one punch turned into a barrage of punches that grew faster and faster, and having four arms made that possible. Ralph continued to dodge them.

"Cross Poison!" Joe instructed. Ralph dodged another punch, and as he did so he brought his two large wings slashing down across Chopper's unprotected chest. The machamp stumbled back, wincing and resting on one buff arm. He looked up from his wounds and glared at Ralph. Ralph glared back, exhaling slowly with controlled breathing.

Chopper stood up again, his face red and angry. He made a swipe at Ralph, who dodged aside again. Except this time Chopper had been prepared for that. He lashed out one of this other arms and grabbed Ralph by the wing as he dodged. The crobat yelled in surprise and pain as Chopper grabbed his right wing and yanked it. Ralph found himself unable to fly as his wing was stretched and crushed in Chopper's grip. Now that he had Ralph's wing, Chopper realised he could grab the other. With minimal effort his other top arm grabbed Ralph's left wing, gripping it tight and stretching it out. Ralph screamed in pain. Chopper was trying to pull him in half like an origami paper bat. Chopper then took it a step further by using his two remaining lower arms to grab Ralph's smaller wings. Now Ralph was completely immobilised and unable to fight back. He struggled to break free, but Chopper's grip was too strong. Slowly Chopper was stretching him out, testing his muscles and bones to their limit. Ralph screamed louder as his wings were pulled nearly to breaking point. Then, in an act of desperation, he lashed out with his head. He smashed his skull into Choppers with all his strength. The machamp flinched, so Ralph did it again. He continued, until Chopper started to get dizzy. Bruises were popping up on his head. He was starting to loosen his grip. And then Chopper suddenly winced. A pain in his stomach had suddenly distracted him. He flinched, doubling forwards. Purple spots were appearing on his skin. Leaf's poisoning was taking effect. Now was Ralph's chance. With one mighty final tug he broke one wing free from Chopper's grip. Quickly he used it to slash Choppers other arm, freeing his remaining wings. Chopper yelled in pain. He glanced up. Ralph was free again. And he wasn't done yet. The machamps eyes met with the crobats eyes. Ralph was floating right in front of him. With a quick movement Ralph swipe his wing forwards. Chopper gasped. He stood there, frozen for a few seconds. And then he fell backwards, landing with a heavy impact on the dusty floor. A large gash ran across his stomach, just above the waist and belt. Ralph inhaled, then exhaled, his body recoiling from exhaustion. And then he too collapsed.

Both Joe and Rocky were open mouthed at that fight. Even the audience had fallen quiet. It had been an experience to watch. Both sides had come so close in strength and speed. But, by all accounts, Ralph had won. The only drawback of that was he was too exhausted to fight any further today. A cheer suddenly erupted from the audience. Joe glanced to the scoreboard as Ralph slowly crawled his way back to his side. The points had dropped to 2:3 to Rocky. It seemed that the referees behind the scenes had marked Ralph as defeated. While Joe would have argued that Ralph was still conscious, he was definitely no longer in a fit state to keep fighting. Joe helped his companion into the air as he arrived, smiling thankfully at him.

"Good try, Ralph." He said kindly. "You managed to take that show off down at least." Ralph smiled weakly, trying to stay afloat in the air with his four exhausted wings. It turned out that four wings were better than four arms.

Rocky withdrew Chopper from the field, actually impressed that Joe had defeated him so easily. Now it was time to send out the rest of his old pokémon. "Alright, so you somehow defeated Chopper." He said. "I've got to admit, I didn't think you'd do that so quickly. Guess I really underestimated Ralph." He placed Chopper's pokeball back onto his belt and withdrew his next pokémon. "But hey, I've still got two more old friends with me, so I suppose it's time I bring them out to see you again." He flicked the pokeball and it opened a few metres away. The pokémon that came out was a tall and stern looking female marowak. Joe smiled. It was Rocky's orphan pokémon, Mina, the one he'd adopted from Mr Fuji in Lavender town. She had certainly grown up a lot. Rocky had shown her to him as a marowak once before, when Joe was about to leave for Johto. She looked a lot stronger now then she had as a cubone. And Joe had never seen her battle before. This would be interesting to watch, he thought. He reached a hand to his pokeball belt. If rocky was going to use a pure ground type, then it was only right he joined in. He unclipped a pokeball and released it.

"Go, Terrence." He called. The armoured earth elephant appeared on the field, making a loud trumped sound to wake his entrance. Rocky seemed impressed.

"Oh boy, ground v ground." He muttered. "This should be interesting!"

Joe grinned. He was out to entertain after all. He pointed a finger. "Terrence, use Horn Attack!" He instructed.

"Mina, use Headbutt!" Rocky called.

The two pokémon charged, rampaging towards one another. Then hit each other head first, causing a loud bump and crack sound as armour hit bone skull helmet. The two locked heads with each other, trying to shove the other back. The fight continued like this for a little while, the armor pokémon verses the bone keeper pokémon. Both of them tried to push each other back, using their heads and full body. Eventually one of them would either give up, tire out or overpower the other. And finally one of them did. Terrence, after realising his attempt to charge had failed, began to roll up and rotate on the spot. Mina continued to push him back, starting to realise she may be in trouble. Then, when Terrence had gained the right amount of speed, he pushed forwards even harder. Mina was unable to stop him. She was bowled over by the rollout attack, landing on her tough back in the dirt. Terrence turned and came rolling back for another attack. Mina was quickly getting back up, unhindered by the damage she'd taken. She narrowed her eyes at the approaching ball of armour, and came up with a quick plan. With a flick of her wrist she readied her club into a downward position, tapping it like a cricket bat against the dusty floor. Terrence approached faster and faster. He was barely a metre away. Mina tensed herself ready, and then swung the club upwards. Terrence was struck in the face, the club not only foiling his attack but also sending him flying upwards. He sailed over Mina's head, summersaulting uncoiled and helpless till he struck the ground several feet back. He landed tusks first, his trunk pointing limp into the air and trumpeting painfully. Mina turned, swinging her club like a katana sword between her hands before flourishing it above her head. Terrence slowly pushed himself up onto his knees, wincing still from the pain. He glared at his opponent. Mina was wearing a smug smile of satisfaction. Terrence realised he wanted to wipe that smile of her face for good. He scraped his foot across the floor, raised himself up on his back feet, and then stomped down hard on the floor. The earth shattered under him, rupturing and breaking like dry skin in the sun. The floor tremored like it was erupting. The walls cracked slightly, and jagged rock stuck up from the earth. But beyond all believe Mina was standing calm in its wake, unhurt and unmoved at all by the quaking. It finally stopped, and still she stood there, grinning even more smugly. Terrence was stunned. Then he was angry.

"Don-Phan!" He muttered rudely. Ralph made a small gasp. Apparently he'd said something very rude indeed. Mina barely seemed to care though. She was still grinning.

"Bonemerang!" Rocky called. Mina puller her arm back then loosed her club, sending it spinning and flying forwards.

"Defend yourself!" Joe instructed quickly. Terrence obeyed orders this time. He curled up into an armoured ball as the attack came flying in. The club struck him, and bounced off, hitting his armoured back harmlessly. It came flying back to Mina, who caught it easily and let the club fall back to her side. She growled a little. This time it was Terrence making the smug grin at her.

Mina flashed a deep shade of furious red. Her whole body began to glow with alarming energy. Then, raising her club up like a battle-axe, she screamed and charged, the lights of the arena glaring an outline of white and yellow around her. Terrence joined in the screaming and made his own charge. The two ground types rushed each other once more, their weapons bared and roaring like wild animals. The inevitable impact was as vicious and as immense as you'd expect. The ground spiked up dust and sand as the two collided, forming a ring the hovered around them for a second before disappearing again. When it did the two pokémon could be seen wrestling each other with their heads. Terrence was trying to shove his tusks into Mina's gut, but her skull was currently blocking him. They butted heads, trying to push the other back and ending up in the same place they'd started. Only one thing was different. Mina was still glowing bright red, and every time Terrence headbutted her the light seemed to grow brighter and deeper. Stupidly Terrence continued to attack her, not realising what this might be leading up to. He still didn't figure it out, even when Mina suddenly erupted in boiling red light, roaring furiously. She smashed him backwards with an almighty headbutt, knocking the armoured elephant onto his side. Then, raising her club up and roaring furiously, she smashed the hard bone tip into his face. Terrence rolled a few metres backwards, then crumpled on his back, his feet lying limply out and his trunk crooked in the air. Mina panted, the red light fading away from her body as she relaxed again. He dropped her bone club, letting it slip from her fingers and leaving her defenceless. Her only weapon landed at her feet, her arms too tired to hold onto it. But at least she'd defeated her opponent. She was safe to rest for now.

Suddenly Terrence stirred. Mina looked up, her smile fading instantly. The Donphan began to move once more. Slowly he pushed himself back onto his four tired legs. He coughed dust and mud from his thin tight lipped mouth. His trunk flexed weakly, trying to regain feeling. As he stood up his eyes caught Minas. She was suddenly very afraid. She thought her attack had defeated him. She thought he'd been knocked out. She'd wasted all her energy on that one strike, yet somehow he was getting back up. She spotted that Terrence's Jaw was moving. In it he was chewing a well-hidden Sitrus berry that no one had spotted him carrying. Only Joe had known about it, and that explained his knowing smile. Mina took a slow and exhausted step back, only to find she could barely move. She was too weak. She had spent all her energy. She had no way of defending herself. Terrence however was perfectly fine. He took a few steps forwards, narrowing his eyes into slits as he glared at his doomed opponent. Joe didn't need to make another command. Terrence was already doing it for him. He curled up into a ball and began to rotate on the spot. Mina's eyes widened even further with fear. She wanted to move, she wanted to run for safety, but she couldn't. She could barely stand anymore. Terrence shot forwards, an unstoppable force set on a path that would lead it to only one location. Mina stood no chance. The last thing she saw was the grey and black armoured ball rolling towards her, and the last thing she felt was the impact it made into her chest. After that everything cut off. She landed metres away on her back, her eyes staring blankly into her skull. Rocky was open mouthed, as was the audience. Joe was also open mouthed, but his mouth was a grin rather than aghast.

Rocky said nothing. He only withdrew his pokémon and hung his head in shame. A few seconds later he finally spoke up. "Probably should have seen that coming." He admitted.

Then the audience erupted in applause. Their cheered echoed around the entire arena. Their cheers quickly turned into chants. They were chanting Joe's name, over and over until it was no longer a word but a sound. "Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe…!" The cheering continued as the scoreboard changed once more. It ready 2:2. Joe had finally managed to make the fight equal again. He still stood a chance.

 _"_ _What an amazing display, folks."_ The announcer blurted out. _"Our challenger really showed Rocky who has the better pure ground type. Things can only get more explosive from here!"_

Rocky withdrew Mina from the field, looking rather guilty about what had happened to her. He clipped her pokeball back to his belt and let his arms hang by his side. When he finally did look up again his expression was stern. "Okay." He muttered, his teeth gritted together. "You took down Crash, you took down Chopper, you took down Mina… but I still have two more pokémon, and there's no guarantee you'll defeat them!" He unclipped his next pokeball, the fourth of five. Joe waited for him to release it. Rocky didn't spend too long waiting. With a flick of his hands he sent out his next pokémon. "Go, Gargoyle!" He called. Sure enough the next pokémon to appear on the field was his aerodactyl. Gargoyle glared at his opponent, the smaller armoured elephant on the opposite side of the field, and grinned to himself. To him this looked like an easy target. What he didn't know was that Terrence was not only formidable, he was pissed.

The following fight went pretty quickly. In summary it was Gargoyle who attacked first, charging stupidly with a wing attack. Terrence not only dodged under this, he also struck Gargoyle at the same time with a rollout to the chest. Turning around to try again, Gargoyle flew back and tried to body slam Terrence. Again the same thing happened. Terrence skidded to a halt, cancelling his rollout and turning to see Gargoyle swooping in to attack. Gargoyle landed a hit, but it didn't do much. Terrence returned that hit with a mud slap to the face. The temporarily blind aerodactyl was then struck in the back with another rollout attack as Terrence passed under him. Gargoyle tried to use ancient power and crush the attacking opponent, but somehow Terrence was able to dodge the attack with ease as he rolled back in for the attack. In final last act of desperation Gargoyle fired a hyper beam. He leashed the massive laser directly into the Donphan's path. The light of his own attack blinded him, hindering his aim. So he could see Terrence roll underneath and lung upwards. Gargoyle was cut off half way through the attack, as he dropped from the air. Wounded, exhausted and unable to battle any further, Gargoyle was withdrawn.

Rocky was starting to look panicky. He was down to his last pokémon already. He knew Joe was strong, very strong, but he hadn't expected this, not when he'd been doing so well at the beginning. His hand reached to his last pokeball.

"That was all of my original pokémon." He muttered. "You defeated them all… even Gargoyle." He clenched his palm into a fist. "Well I'm not out just yet." He reminded his friend. "I've still got one more pokémon, and fortunately for me he's my strongest." He unclipped the pokeball and released it. "Go, Rex!"

Joe, Ralph, Terrence and the audience looked up at the monstrosity that had appeared on Rocky's side of the field. Joe had not been expecting him to carry something like that. Standing sternly like a wandering mountain on Rocky's side of the field was a large and grumpy looking tyranitar. Joe suddenly realised that he might be in some trouble. He'd never seen this pokémon before. He didn't know how strong it could be. For safety he decided that Terrence had done his job.

"Terrence, come back." He called as he withdrew Terrence from the field. He clipped his pokeball back to his belt. The two trainers were down to their last pokémon, and fortunately for Joe he still had his water type. "Go, Cyclone!" He called. His red gyarados appeared on the field, coiled like a violent aquatic spring. The crowd cheered and gasped in awe. Rocky was a little surprised.

"So Lance wasn't joking about that." He muttered. "You really did catch a red gyarados… and you kept it too." Cyclone uncoiled, stretching her long tail and body out like a tired snake. Joe was just wandering why Lance had told Rocky about cyclone and the events at Lake Rage. That quickly became unimportant. They had a battle to win. The crowd was getting really excited now. This fight was going to be big!

"Cyclone, use Ice Fang!" Joe called.

"Rock Slide!" Rocky instructed.

Cyclone dived in, glistening frozen fangs bared to bite down. Tyranitar spread its arms, and the fragments of boulder that had been broken up from the fights earlier began to levitate up into the air. The giant dinosaur was forcing them up with pure stone hard will. Then, when he was ready to attack, he dropped them down on top of Cyclone. The rainfall of boulders pelted the red gyarados's back, causing her to flinch and stop as her head was nearly crushed by a large one. The attack thankfully didn't do much to her. She retaliated by biting down hard on Tyranitar's side, sinking her frosty teeth into his tough armour. Tyranitar roared and batted her away with a small arm.

"Thrash!" Rocky instructed. Tyranitar began to lash out wildly, swinging its massive tail around without even looking at what it was trying to hit. Cyclone was struck a couple of times before backing up far enough to avoid it. When Tyranitar finally stopped lashing he was standing with his back to her, and that left him open to an attack.

"Waterfall!" Joe called. Cyclone sped forwards in a wake of water, spiralling up it like a furious current as she aimed for her opponent. She struck Tyranitar in the back at full force. The giant dinosaur roared in pain and stumbled forwards, wincing. Quickly it recovered however, swinging around in a flash and striking Cyclone in the face with a surprisingly powerful punch. Cyclone flinched, and Tyranitar took full advantage of this. He raised his foot up, and stomped down hard. The earth quaked and ruptured once more. But, to Tyranitar's surprise this time, Cyclone was unharmed. She stared coldly at her opponent, the cracked jagged ground under her doing no harm to her body.

Now it was Cyclone's turn to make an attack, and this time she didn't wait for Joe to do it for her. She took an inhale of breath, and then breathed out a blast of dragon fire. Her dragon rage attack struck Tyranitar's tough shell, singeing it and causing a surprising amount of pain. Her dragon rage attack seemed to work quite effectively. Tyranitar began to thrash around again, but this time Cyclone had back up out of its way. The great stone lizard stopped and glared at her. It appeared this fight was only going one way. Both pokémon opened their mouths wide, white light forming inside it. The crowd gasped, excited to see what they were about to do, but also wandering who would possible come out victorious from this. The two pokémon charged their attack, and then they fired. Two massive hyper beams fired from their mouths, aimed at the other. And to everyone's surprise the two beams hit dead in the middle and stopped each other. A collision of blinding light formed at the centre of the battlefield. The two pokémon were trying to push each other back with their attack, using the force of the beam to press against their attacked. But currently it seemed that they were at a stalemate. Eventually one of them would either tire or miss. And this did in fact happen. Slowly Cyclone's beam began to push back Tyranitar. Desperate to win, Rex tried to push back, but his beam didn't seem to be strong enough. He could feel his feet scrapping back against the ground, he could feel the force of the attacks pressing into his face. Slowly Cyclone was pushing him back. And then the beams exploded. Tyranitar was thrown backwards, the force of the explosion striking it in the chest with the remnants of Cyclone's hyper beam. It struck the far wall, causing massive cracking and damage to its surface. Cyclone stopped her attack, watching her opponent. Rex winced, his tiny arms gripping his thick chest. He fell to his knees, tried to stand up, and fell face first forwards. He landed unconscious on the ground, tail flopping behind him.

There was a moment of silence. Rocky just stared in stunned disbelief. His arms dropped weakly to his side. He exhaled. Then he looked up at Joe and Ralph, amazed.

"Wow." was all he could say.

The crowd erupted into cheering. They roared their approval, the excitement of the passing battle and the amazement of the final strike fuelling their yells.

 _"_ _What an amazing battle, Ladies and Gentlemen, and what an astounding final attack."_ The announcer stated, blasting his voice through the speakers. _"It was such a close fight all the way, but our challenger has come out on top. Rocky, the newest member of the Elite Four has been defeated on his first day in the job. Give a round of applause to them for such an amazing performance they've given us."_ A cheer went around for both Joe and Rocky, their names being chanted like war cries across the stadium.

"This was your first day?" Joe asked. Rocky nodded.

"Yeah." He admitted. "Everything up to this was practice and preparation. Guess I just got unlucky battling you first."

"You put up a good fight." Joe told him. "You were winning there for a while."

"But you were always going to be the victor." Rocky smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'm not too upset. You deserve this after all." Joe nodded with a weak smile.

"It was great seeing you again, Rocky." He said. "I'm glad you achieved your goals. It was nice getting to rematch you."

"I'll come see you after you defeat Lance." Rocky told him with a smug smile. "Maybe then I'll rematch you again." Joe smiled back.

"I'd like that." He said.

Joe withdrew Cyclone, then, with a nod and a bow, he walked out of the arena, stepping through the dark brown doors and leaving the crowd behind him. Ralph followed him through, the doors closing behind them. The light of the arena and the roar of the audience were cut out simultaneously, leaving Joe and his crobat companion standing alone in the dark. Joe began to chuckle.

"A rematch? You cocky bastard, Rocky."


	40. Chapter 40: Elite Four: Karen

After a fourth long wait the final battle with the elite four was upon him. Joe stood up from the bench in the shadowy waiting hall, his pokémon all healed up and ready to fight again. He was prepared for this. He'd defeated three of them already, the fourth shouldn't be too tough. The large metal doors began to open up in front of him. They squeaked as they swung open, letting the light from the inside arena blind and illuminate them. The roar of the appreciative crowd was heard from inside, cheering him in. Joe stepped out of the dark and into the arena. The cheer turned into an excited roar. Everyone clapped as he and Ralph returned to the arena. Joe wasted no time standing around. He wanted to have this challenge over with. He stepped up to his podium, as Ralph joined him. The announcer popped in a few seconds later to announce.

 _"_ _Wwwwwwwwwwelcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Johto Elite Four challenge!"_ He said excitedly. _"Today is our challenger's fourth and final battle with the Elite Four. Today he goes up against number four of four. So let's not waste any time in getting to the battle. I know you're all ready to see how this goes, and so am I."_ The black metal doors on the other end of the field began to open up. Black mist flooded out from within. _"And now enters the last member of the Johto Elite Four."_ The announcer continued. _"She's the woman who makes the shadows crawl from their hiding places. She puts the fear in fearless and the K in cunning. The strongest member of the Johto Elite Four."_ The metal doors finished opening, and from the mist a slim female figure stepped out. _"Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together for the mistress of dark types… KAREN!"_

The figure stepped from the shadowy mist as the crowd cheered with applause. She was wearing a black skin-tight jumpsuit with high heal shoes of the same colour. Her hear was long and silvery-blue, the same colour as her eyes it turned out. She stepped out into the arena, stopped at her podium, gave one look at the boy challenging her, and scoffed.

"So, you're my challenger?" She said, sounding very disappointed. "I was hoping you'd be a little older." Joe coughed. He went to say something, but Karen cut him off. "Please don't bother speaking." She told him. "You won't be here long enough to do that. I'll defeat you with ease." She unclipped a pokeball with a swift movement of her hand and held it out, ready to fight. Joe was a little surprised by how much she wanted to fight. He unclipped a pokeball and readied to fight.

"We'll see." He muttered to himself.

"Well, it looks like our combatants are already ready to fight." The announcer stated. He made a small cough away from the microphone. "Alright then." The sound of him preparing his throat was clear for all to hear. "Let the Battle… Begin!"

As it turned out the fight didn't last long. It wasn't instant, but it lasted longer than the previous battles. Karen sent out a murkrow, to which Joe sent out Pippy to fight. This specific match went very quickly. Murkrow was first to attack, pulling of a quick attack that struck Pippy but did very little. Pippy chuckled at his pore attempts, and fired a thunderbolt. Murkrow dodged the first one with a surprise burst of speed, following his previous attack up with a faint attack. This also struck Pippy, but again it did very little to harm him. Pippy took full advantage and struck Murkrow in the chest with a close up thunderbolt. And that was the end of that confrontation. Murkrow struck the battlefield floor, sparking and smoking in an unconscious pile. Karen withdrew her pokémon.

"Don't get your hopes up!" She stated sternly. "That was my weakest pokémon!" She unclipped another pokeball and readied it in her hand. As she did so Joe decided to withdraw Pippy. He didn't know what Karen's next pokémon was going to be, and Pippy wasn't terribly defensive. He didn't want him to be knocked out by a surprise ground type.

"Come back, Pippy." He called as he withdrew his Raichu from the field. Karen seemed surprised that he'd do this, but she said nothing. Unclipping another pokeball himself the two trainers prepared to continue on with the battle.

Karen sent out her pokémon first. "Go, Sneasel!" She called. The lanky dark and ice type weasel pokémon jumped out onto the battlefield, sharpening its claws against each other.

Joe sent out his pokémon next. "Go, Quill!" He exclaimed. His tall and flaming typhlosion appeared on the battlefield, roaring and blasting flame from the ducts around his neck. Karen looked a little disappointed. Clearly she wasn't happy about another type matchup against her. Joe didn't give her long to think. "Flame Wheel!" He instructed. Quill curled up, erupted flames down his back, then sped towards the target. Sneasel jumped aside, narrowly avoiding the flaming ball. As it moved it swiped its claw, slashing Quill down the back. Quill yelled, halting his attack and turning on the quick and evasive opponent. Sneasel had already scampered back across the field, gaining distance between it and its larger opponent. With a swipe of its claw it threw a collection of Ice shards at Quill. The attack hit him, causing some damage but mostly evaporating against his flaming skin. Surprisingly this didn't dishearten Karen's Sneasel in the slightest. This apparently only made it more excited. It rushed at Quill, claws curled into fists, throwing punches as it sped passed the large fiery badger. Quill winced with each strike, the shadow embraced punched striking his side before he could even see it. But he found a way to resolve this problem. He blasted flame from his spine, causing a small ring of blazing embers to fill up the air for several feet around him. Sneasel was scorched by the flames, falling over as the fire burned its chest. It scampered back as Quill turned on it, rearing up on his hind legs and roaring furiously. He charged the smaller ice creature, and before it could even react it was already over. Sneasel rolled back across the field, lying limp on the floor, its black skin charred, defeated.

Karen withdrew her second pokémon. Her eyes were glaring at Joe with both anger and worry. That was two pokémon he'd defeated in barely five minutes, and he'd not even come close to losing one yet. Somehow she felt like she'd made a terrible mistake accepting his challenge. She glanced to the scoreboard. She gulped, realising that she wasn't imagining this fight. The points read 5:3 to Joe. She'd have to harden up if she wanted to have a chance at defeating him. This was meant to be a challenge after all.

 _"_ _Things are not going so smoothly for Karen, it seems."_ The announcer stated, shoving another arrow into the already full quiver of obviousness. _"Her challenger appears to be wiping the floor with her pokémon. Can she possibly pull a comeback from this and turn the tables? Only time will tell."_ Karen unclipped another pokémon. Of course she could come back from this, she reasoned. She wasn't the fourth member of the elite four for no reason. Save the best for last. She readied the pokeball. She could win this with ease if she wanted to, she told herself. The only reason she wasn't winning right now was because it was more fun to make your opponent believe they were winning. She released the pokeball.

As it turned out her way of thinking was completely wrong. The fight continued, Karen sending out an umbreon to defend her team. So far this was her strongest pokémon, it was certainly the one that took the longest to take down. Joe kept Quill out, knowing that he could probably take it down by himself. The fight continued on, Karen making slightly more demanding commands now. She instructed Umbreon to tackle Quill, which Joe admitted he didn't expect. Elite Four members usually had bigger, better moves for their pokémon then tackle. But for now it did the job it needed to. Umbreon sprinted forwards and struck Quill with a full body attack. Quill lashed out with a claw, scratching Umbreon as it backed away. Joe instructed Quill to use strength and teach umbreon a lesson. The attack sent the dark eeveelutions rolling backwards. Umbreon quickly recovered from its attack and went in again, this time pulling of a faint attack. The dark type move hit Quill in the side, surprising him. Quill retaliated, blasting Umbreon with a pillar of flame. The black furred dog stumbled back, wincing as its skin smouldered and charred. Quill then tried to use a rollout on it, but Umbreon was quick enough this time to dodge out of the way. Quill turned around and came back in, but again Umbreon dodged aside. As Quill came in to try a third time Umbreon fired a small ghostly ball from its mouth. The ghostly ray fluttered away from its creator until it struck Quill square in the forehead. He uncurled suddenly, his limbs falling weak and his senses muddle. Quill looked around, trying to find his opponent, but his vision had doubled and blurred, making it next to impossible to see where he was. He heard Joe's commands, but they just sounded like gibberish to him. Umbreon grinned to itself. Now was its chance to get some proper attacks in. It rushed forwards and struck Quill with another faint attack. Quill recoiled and lashed out in the wrong direction. Umbreon bounced around its opponent, knowing that Quill couldn't tell where it was at the moment. His perception of everything around him was muddled up. Getting a little cocky of itself, Umbreon lunged in for a larger, stronger swipe at its opponent. And, at that precise moment, Quill decided to do something surprisingly intelligent. He stopped, stood still, curled up into a ball, and set himself alight. His entire body burst into flame, burning everything around him for a circular two foot radius. Umbreon could not stop. It tackled Quill's flaming body, setting itself alight as it did so. And as it tried to back away Quill began to spin on the spot. His body rotated like a tire on a motorbike from hell. Fire and cinders sprayed out around him. Umbreon screamed as the fire engulfed its entire body. Karen, in a moment of weakness, withdrew her pokémon, unable to see it burning on the field. The pokeball would put the flames out, but the consequence of this was Umbreon had now been officially withdrawn from the fight. She could not send him back in. It counted as a loss. That was 5:2 to Joe. Karen winced. This really was not going well for her at all. She still hadn't defeated one of his pokémon.

"Quill, come back!" Joe instructed. Quill disappeared from the battlefield, withdrawing back into his pokeball to rest up from this battle. Karen was a bit surprised by this. His pokémon was hardly hurt. Why was he withdrawing it? Joe know why. It was because Quill was still confused. He'd only get hurt remaining out on the battlefield. But Joe wasn't worried about him that much. He still had other pokémon that could take care of Karen's team. He unclipped another pokeball and released it. "Go, Terrence." He called. Terrence appeared on Joe's side of the field, his trunk flicking and ready to fight again.

Karen unclipped another pokeball. She wasn't ready to let Joe defeat her just yet. "Go, Gengar!" She exclaimed, throwing the pokeball. A ghost appeared on her side of the field, grinning sinisterly, its tiny eyes staring. It seemed amused by its smaller opponent. Terrence was less amused by its look.

"Shadow ball!" Karen commanded. Gengar formed a large ball of ghost energy and fired it at the opponent.

"Look out!" Joe called. Terrence jumped aside with a heavy push of his large legs as the shadow ball sped towards him and then passed by harmlessly. Gengar was a little ticked off by this. Angrily it formed another shadow ball and threw it in a rising fit of rage. This time Terrence was struck by it, but to Gengar's further surprise it hardly hurt him. The ghost pokémon growled, getting a little angrier about this. "Earthquake!" Joe instructed. Terrence made the earth shake, but Gengar avoided the attack by hovering above the ground. Its levitation ability made sure that Terrence's attack could not touch it. The grinning ghost cackled amused as Terrence halted his attack. It dropped back to the ground, sticking its tongue out mockingly.

"Shadow Ball!" Karen instructed again. Once more Gengar formed a large ball of ghostly energy. This time Terrence didn't stand still to be hit. Acting without orders he curled up, began rotating, and then shot forwards in a rollout attack to strike Gengar while it was preparing its attack. The ghost was suddenly surprised when a large ball of grey and black armour smashed straight into it. Terrence hit it in the chest, causing it to go flying backwards. And at the same time he hit the nearly finished shadow ball. The attack ricocheted backwards out of Gengar's arms, striking itself in the chest with the ghost ball. Gengar flinched, gasped and fell backwards. It impacted flat on the ground several feet back, and to Karen's surprise and fear it did not get back up.

Karen blinked. How could this be happening? She was down to her last pokémon already, and she hadn't defeated one of her challenger's pokémon. What was happening today? She wasn't usually this bad. She wasn't usually this easy to beat. She glanced at Joe. He must be cheating somehow, she reasoned. He must be using battle enhancers somehow without anybody seeing. But the sensible part of her mind realised the truth. He was using nothing like that. He was just strong. He was a smart and strong trainer, and he taught his pokémon well. Karen growled a little. With an angry flick of her arm she withdrew Gengar from the battlefield. She may be completely outnumbered now, and there was not much of a chance that she'd win left. But she promised to herself that she would not willingly go down without taking one of his pokémon with him.

 _"_ _Karen is down to her last pokémon, folks."_ The announcer stated. _"Can she possibly turn this around?"_

Karen unclipped her final pokeball and, with barely a movement, she released it. "Go, Houndoom!" She called. The pokeball snapped open and on her side of the field appeared a large fiery dog with curved horns. Joe was not happy to see another one of these. He still remembered Archer's houndoom, and the amount of trouble that had caused when he battled it. But he had a feeling Karen's houndoom would be a little different to that.

"Terrence, use rollout again!" Terrence did as he was instructed. He curled up and sped towards the fire dog. Houndoom however had other plans. It jumped over his attack, avoiding it with ease. Terrence was surprised, but he didn't stop. He quickly turned around, rolling back in for another attack. This time Houndoom held its ground. It inhaled, pulled back its head, and breathed fire onto the field in front of it. Terrence couldn't stop in time to avoid the attack. He skidded into the path of the flamethrower, the fire engulfing him quickly. He returned out the other side, a fiery boulder. He skidded to a quick halt, landing on his side still on fire. He sprayed a jet of mud onto his back, putting out the remaining flames before he was badly hurt. His grey skin was burned and blistered, but he was still standing. Karen grinned to herself.

"Good job, Houndoom." She praised. "Now, use Crunch!" Houndoom ran at Terrence, lunging, jaws wide, and bit down hard on his trunk. Terrence yelled as the hound's teeth bit through his armour with a bone like crunching sound. Houndoom began to shake its head around like a wolf taring chunks of meat from a fresh carcass. Terrence used all his strength to pull away, but the fire dog's jaws were like sharp vice edges. No matter what he tried to do he couldn't break free from its grip. So instead he tried something else. Instead of backing up, he charged forwards. Houndoom was taken by surprise as the bulky grey elephant slammed head first into its front. The flaming hound yelped in surprise, letting go of Terrence's trunk and backing up, back arched and growling. Terrence glared at his opponent, his proboscis aching with teeth marks running down the end. He flicked it up and made a loud and fierce trumpet before charging once more. Houndoom also charged, head lowered so its horns were pointing forwards. Terrence was doing the same, aiming his sharp tusks out first to impale the fire dog. The two pokémon collided with each other, their horns blocking their attacks. Terrence used his right tusk to block Houndoom's horned headbutt, but this left him unable to swing the other in to attack. Houndoom was mushing with all its might against this one tusk, and Terrence would only be able to hold it back for so long. Taking a big risk, Terrence scooped a small clump of dust of the ground with his trunk, raised the appendage over his head and sprayed the dust from the nozzle down onto the opponent. Houndoom coughed, losing focus for a few seconds. Now was Terrence's chance. He shoved Houndoom back, causing it to stumble on its four thin legs. Before Houndoom could fight back Terrence struck it again, this time with a successful horn attack. The sharp tusk jabbed Houndoom in the unprotected belly, causing it to yelp in pain and jump back. Weakened and enraged by the attack Houndoom let out another blast of flamethrower straight onto Terrence. The bulky ground type winced and curled up for best defence, but this left him open for another attack. Houndoom halted its flamethrower and instead resorted to lunging in to attack, trying to pull of another crunch attack. But Terrence pulled a quick one on it. The second Houndoom jumped Terrence began to role. He shot forwards, striking Houndoom from underneath as it landed on top of him. The large black dog was kicked several feet up into the air. It howled in surprise, flame sporting from its open jaws. Terrence turned and came back in for another attack. Houndoom barely got to touch the ground before it was hit again, this time in the side. It landed, rolled and groaned. Terrence attacked again, jumping this time as he came in for another rollout and landing on Houndoom's chest, still spinning. The canine pokémon yelped in pain as Terrence rolled over it. Slowly pushed itself up, its body weak and nearly ready to give up. But it wasn't done yet. In a bout of fury it blasted flame one last time from its mouth. The fire stretched out fire. Terrence, unable to stopped, rolled straight into it. Neither pokémon could see. Neither pokémon could stop. Houndoom grinned, sure that it had just defeated its opponent. And then a large grey bulk struck it strait in the face. It collapsed, its jaw limp and hanging, its eyes shut. Terrence skidded to a halt, the fire on his back extinguishing into nothing more than a wisp of smoke. He uncurled from his ball, raised up his trunk and trumpeted mightily.

There was a following stunned silence. No one spoke, or even whispered for a solid half minute. Then the crowd erupted into sound. A whole chorus of excited and amazed cheers went up. The room exploded with noise and cheers. Karen's jaw dropped. How had she lost so badly? Not even one of his pokémon she had defeated. She stared at the boy who was revelling in his applause. How had he done it so quickly? It was scary to witness such power and skill in someone that young. Joe looked at the crowd, an honoured smile turning his face pink. They loved him. He had defeated the Johto Elite Four, and there was only one step left after that.

 _"_ _It looks like that's the end of the battle folks, and what a battle it was."_ The announced stated, excitement clearly overwhelming him a little. _"I don't think we've even seen a member of the Elite Four be beaten so quickly. This is a good sign for his chances against the champion. And that leads me to bring up the only man left standing in our challenger's way."_ There was a short pause to let the crowd cheer. _"Our challenger, the young master Joseph Glende, has defeated all four Elite Four members consecutively. You all know what that means. Yes folks, it's been a while but finally it looks like Lance is going to get a worthy opponent to battle. It's been a long time coming, but our challenger here may just have what it takes to battle the champion. The question is will it be enough to have even a smidgeon of a chance? Return at midnight tonight for the most likely epic and certainly conclusive match for the place of Johto Champion!"_ The microphone switched off for good. The audience continued to applaud. A round of cheers went up. The chant of his name returned.

"Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe…!"

Joe covered his face a little. He was amazed he'd made it this far again. It seemed that miracles did happen twice. He wasn't sure whether he should count this as a miracle yet. He still had to fight Lance, and win. He asked himself if he was ready. He'd only seen one of Lance's pokémon, his dragonite, and he didn't even know how powerful that was. What were his other pokémon like? He'd find out soon enough. The battle was in half a day's time, and all he'd be able to do before then was wait and rest. But he trusted his team. They had gotten him this far, they wouldn't fail him now. Even if he lost, he wouldn't hate them for it. The simple fact he'd got this far was amazing in itself. Nothing that could happen next would make him less proud of them.

Karen fell to her knees, her arms hanging at her sides. "How…" She muttered. "So quickly… how did you win that easily?" Joe looked at the elite trainer kneeling weakly a few metres away from him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She looked destroyed, and by a simple battle no less.

"It was probably luck." Joe told her in all honesty. "I don't imagine it'll happen twice." Karen looked up at him. She seemed surprised by his words.

"You believe in luck like that?" She asked. Then she chuckled. "No, that was not luck. That was just skill and strength." She stood up again. "As much as it may annoy me that you beat me so easily, you still beat me fair and square. To deny that would be foolish." She raised her head and gave the boy a cunning smile. "You're up against Lance now. He's not me. He will destroy you if you underestimate him." She winked. "So give him hell, like you did to us." Joe couldn't help but smile back. He nodded back his thanks, and with a swift tern on his feet he turned away.

With a slow stroll he left the arena, exiting through Karen's black metal doors. As they closed behind him was left in the sweet serene quiet of a dark and lonely room. Joe turned to Ralph, and Ralph turned to him. They were both feeling the same way at this point. They were struggling to hold down the excitement. They were here again, already, after such a long travel, after everything that they'd seen, experienced and suffered, after every good and every bad thing that happened, after every chance they'd had to give up… They were here. The door ahead of them would lead to their greatest and finally challenge they had left to face. It would lead them to the champion.

Lance was waiting.

* * *

 **It'd like to quickly say I apologist for how short this chapter is. I ran out of steam a bit for this one, and as you can imagine because we're nearly at the end I'm just trying to get to the end as quickly as I can. I hope that this drop on quality doesn't effect your enjoyment of the story to much.**

 **I'd also like to say, since I'm not planing to add a note at the end of the next chapter, I want to thank all of you for ready my stories, following, favoriting, reviewing, promoting, all that good stuff. Seriously, thank you all for all that. Even if you just read through my chapters now and then, thank you all the same. Just knowing that someone somewhere enjoys my work keeps me going. That confidence boost makes me want to continue further. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for, you know, just enjoying me crappy deranged ramblings :)**

 **There will be a note at the end of the final chapter about what I am or may be doing next. I plan to possibly wrap this series up then, but that discussion will be in the notes. So, till then, keep on reading and keep on enjoying, even though the awful spelling mistakes.**


	41. Chapter 41: Lance

Midnight finally came around. Joe and Ralph had waited patiently for it, sitting at the waiting bench with their hands on their laps. Joe had even fallen asleep for an hour or so. He'd needed the rest. He'd been battling all day. Now his last battle was waiting just ahead of him. It wouldn't be long till they let him in to face it. He'd been waiting for several hours already, and in that time he'd found himself thinking back on everything he'd been though once again. He barely remembered the day he became a trainer. It all seemed so long ago now, like a distant memory. It had only been several months ago. And the whole Team Rocket crisis. That had passed quickly, too. That could have gone on for years, but things had passed by so suddenly. He remembered how determined he'd been to help stop Archer and his commanders. It had been two weeks since the fight in Goldenrod City, two weeks since Archer's death. He'd already done so much. He wished sometimes that he'd just had a normal adventure, like most kids did when they went traveling with pokémon, but in many respects he was also glad it had been like this. Bad things had happened to him, but he'd overcome them. They made him who he was now. He probably would have never become this strong, or this determined if they'd never happened. He wouldn't be challenging the pokémon league for a second time if he hadn't been through all of that. The only thing he truly regretted was not giving more time to his father. He wished he'd given a chance, and now he'd never be able to. He was gone now, as was Danning, as was Sting. All he could do was remember them and who they were.

He turned to his companion, the pokémon that had been by his side during his whole adventure. Ralph had fallen asleep against the bench arm. His snoring was annoyingly loud, but Joe didn't bother him. He smiled at him. He was clearly exhausted. Joe had made sure to heal up all his pokémon so that they were ready for the upcoming fight. He didn't want them collapsing straight away. He wanted to win, even if he wasn't interested in the place of championship. He trusted his pokémon, but he knew that in the end trust wouldn't be enough to win. He'd have to think smart and quick, like his opponent. Lance was a formidable trainer, well known across the Johto region. Very few even dared to challenge him, fewer got to and none ever won. Joe was expecting to be tested to the height of his abilities. His friends would be watching him. Winter, his uncle, they'd be there watching all the way. Their presence would encourage him to fight harder. He just hoped that it would actually help.

The creaking of metal echoed down the resting room. Ralph woke suddenly from his sleep, siting up and looking around. The two of them turned to the doorway. Finally it was opening. Finally they were ready to let him in. Joe stood up, helping Ralph off the seat. The two friends took one final glance at each other. This was the last time they'd be able to talk before they went up against Lance.

"No matter what happens, Ralph…" Joe said. "I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I couldn't have gotten here without you." Ralph smiled back. His fanged mouth curved like the crescent moon.

"Cro." He said back. He nuzzled Joe's shoulder affectionately. Joe patted him on the back.

"It's okay buddy." He said kindly. The door finished opening. The roar and cheer of the crowd was loud in their ears already. The music was calling them. With one final smile they stepped out into the bright and glowing arena lights.

The second they could be seen the cheering increased in volume, forming a union of voices. All of them were shouting their names. Joe stepped up to his side of the field, ready for the upcoming battle. Ralph waited beside him. He was certain he'd have a part to play in this match. He always did, and Joe would most certainly need him. The crowd began to quieten a little as the announcer returned for his final appearance in this challenge.

 _"_ _Here it is, Ladies and Gentlemen."_ He stated loudly. _"Finally we arrive at the final match. Our challenger has managed to defeat all the members of the Johto Elite Four in a row. And now his final opponent awaits him. The esteemed and all powerful champion of Indigo Plateau"_ The crowd cheered louder. There was a pause for breath. _"Well, let's not beat about the bush any longer. You've all been waiting for this moment, as have we. You've been waiting for a grand, amazing fight. Well you're certainly about to get one. Today we shall either see a new champion crowned, or the reason why the current champion is the best of the best!"_ The crowd continued to cheer louder. The large golden doors at the opposite end of the stadium swung open suddenly, moving much faster than all the other doors before. _"He's a man who needs no introduction. He defeated the Kanto League, The Johto League and many various other leagues just to get to where he is, and now he's the best there is in the both of the twin regions. He's the grand master of dragon types!" There was a pause for effect. "Ladies and Gentlemen… I present to you… The champion of Johto… LANCE!"_

Five seconds later there was a whoosh of air, as a quiet rumbling came from within the dark hallway through the large golden doors. Something bulky and orange came flying out. Like a loose lightning bolt from the clouds of heaven, the dragonite sped out into the stadium centre, a figure clinging confidently to its back. They circled the ring once, before stopping on the opposite podium and landing. The figure jumped from his pokémon's back, landing calmly on both feet with barely a recoil. He swung his long cloak around, revealing his face to the audience. Joe would have recognised him even without seeing his face. He was wearing the same clothes he'd been in the last time they'd met, back at the Lake of Rage. Lance smiled and held a flat hand up to the crowd. They cheered for him. A few whistled and excited shouts echoed out, especially from the younger female members of the audience. With a chuckle he lowered his arm again, turning to his opponent. He was both surprised and unsurprised to see who it was. He smiled at Joe.

"So finally you arrive at my doorstep." He said, holding his arms behind his back. "I must admit I've been looking forward to this day. Having heard so much about you from Oak and Elm, I knew you'd be a strong trainer. And then I saw you in action when you helped me calm the red gyarados, which I now hear is one of your team members here today. That had me genuinely surprised, but I also realised something else. You wouldn't just stop Team Rocket, you'd almost certainly make it all the way to me, here, as you indeed have." Joe looked at him.

"You could have helped us that day." He told him. "You could have probably stopped Archer yourself, with less casualties, rather than send your cousin with your pokémon."

Lance shrugged. "I could have helped." He agreed. "I would have liked to, and it's not that I didn't. I sent Dragonite to help you fight the titan. But, in respect, I felt that you could handle it. And you did, so I was right."

"Still, you didn't exactly know." Joe told him. Lance smiled. He gave the boy an oddly confident stare of understanding.

"I was pretty certain you'd win." He told him. "Call it… intuition." He held his hands together, crossing his fingers. "But enough talking. We are scheduled to give our fans a show, and it's about time we delivered."

Joe turned and looked at the audience. They were indeed very excited to see them fight. Some of them were even shouting things like 'get on with it!' and 'hurry up!' at them. Joe turned back to lance with a stern expression.

"Alright." He stated sternly. "I'm ready to fight when you are." Lance smiled back.

"For what it's worth…" He said suddenly. "Even if I lose, I am glad to get the chance to battle you." Joe found that that made him smile.

"Likewise." He said, readying for the fight.

"And advice: No matter how good or how bad it's going, do not underestimate me!" Lance winked at him. "No, let's begin."

The battle began and the first match was started. Both Joe and Lance readied a pokeball in their hands, and simultaneously they threw them onto their end of the field. As the two pokeballs, one red, one black, struck the field they released two pokémon of the same species. The only difference was Lance's was Blue, Joe's was red. Cyclone stared in anger at the fellow gyarados on Lance's team. Gyarados stared back with the same glare of hatred. It appeared that gyarados hated each other as much as they hated everything else. Lance was a little impressed by this.

"Now, what are the chances of this happening?" He wondered to himself.

"With my history it happens quite often to me." Joe told him straightforwardly without a hint of sarcasm. Lance nodded.

"Gyarados, use Dragon Rage!" He instructed. Lance's Gyarados slithered a little closer across the battlefield and blasted a plume of purple and yellow flame at Cyclone.

"Waterfall!" Joe instructed. Cyclone responded to her attacker by spiralling forwards, forming a water cylinder around her. As the dragon rage struck her body she fired her attack, striking Lance's Gyarados dead centre in the middle of its reared open chest. It recoiled with impact, but ultimately took little damage. The two sea dragons continued to glare at one another. It appeared that both attacks had done very little, but this was quite possibly the point. Lance was most likely holding back, giving Joe the opinion that he was winning. Joe knew this could be true, but he didn't know just yet how he could get around it. Lance prepared to make another command.

"Dragon Rage, close up!" He snapped. Gyarados instantly started moving, dragging its long body across the arena floor.

"Ice Fang!" Joe commanded. Cyclone lunged at her arriving attacker. She grabbed Gyarados around the lower tail with her open jaw, her sharp ice covered teeth digging into its tough skin. Gyarados didn't even flinch. It simply retaliated by breathing dragon flames down its opponents back. Cyclone winced but held on to her prey. She began tugging at it, trying to pull the beast back onto its side. With a couple of tries, followed by an almighty tug, she succeeded in doing so. Gyarados was pulled back, its head striking the floor as the larger, red skinned opponent dragged it away.

"Flail!" Lance instructed. Cyclone held her grip on the foe, but quickly realised that this was a bad idea. Gyarados began to writhe and fling itself about. Its long and powerful tail struck Cyclone in the face, knocking her back and breaking her grip on it. With another string swing Gyarados smacked its red cousin on the side of the head, causing Cyclone to topple over like a watery domino. Taking full advantage of the situation, Gyarados rose up and lunged, wrapping itself around Cyclone's wounded body. It coiled and squeezed tight, trying to strangle her. But one small disadvantage came from this. Both Cyclone and Gyarados were the same species of pokémon. They were both long, thin, vicious sea serpents. Therefor one of them trying to strangle the other ended up being a fruitless task. It was like a snake trying to eat its own tail. What you got then was ouroboros. It wasn't exactly along the same lines as a Gyarados trying to choke another gyarados, but it ended up being just as fruitless. Cyclone stared at her opponent, who had curled around her lower body. If she could have spoken English she would have probably said something like 'you could have at least asked me out to dinner first'. As it was all she could do was his and roar, so she did that. She swung her head back and with a surprisingly powerful swipe she batted the opponent away, slapping it in the head with her own skull and knocking it off. Lance's Gyarados landed sideways, its crown aching from the attack.

"Dragon Rage!" Joe instructed. Cyclone blaster her opponent with her own dragon fire this time, striking it in its vulnerable back. Gyarados flinched and recoiled, slithering up into a coiled position, ready to attack back. The two sea dragons glared at each other, mouths wide and hissing viciously. "Waterfall!" Joe instructed again. Cyclone formed a water cylinder around her as she rotated on the spot like a curling arrow shaft. But her opponent did not wait patiently for her to attack this time. Instead it decided to make its own attack, at the command of Lance.

"Thunderbolt!" He instructed. Joe's attention suddenly snapped to the opponent dragon, whose mouth was wider than normal and crackling with sparks. He quickly turned to Cyclone.

"Look out!" He instructed. But Cyclone wasn't stopping. She was already attacking. She flew at the opponent, the watery shield coating her as she attacked. When she was barely a few feet away the opponent gyarados fired its own attack. The thunderbolt struck the watery shield, and electrocuted its occupant. Cyclone's attack suddenly and quickly failed, her bulky red body seizing up into a rigid coil as she landed weakly on the ground, static running down her body. Gyarados grinned to itself, as did Lance.

"Good shot." He congratulated the dragon. "Now, dragon rage it!" Gyarados lunged forwards to attack.

Cyclone didn't remain grounded for long. She quickly rolled herself over, swiping her tail out towards the opponent as she did so. Her attack lightly hit Gyarados, knocking it off balance a little but ultimately not causing much harm. Gyarados attacked back, blasting Cyclone with another dragon flame. The red gyarados was beginning to tire out, but she was doing her best to hold out.

"Thunderbolt!" Lance commanded. Gyarados prepared to fire the electric attack.

"Hyper Beam!" Joe called. Cyclone grinned to herself. She opened her mouth wide and gathered light inside. The opponent fired its attack, but this would end up proving to be futile. Inches before it struck, Cyclone fired. Her powerful white burning laser struck the Lance's Gyarados square in the centre of its chest. The creature writhed as its skin burned and its body was beaten by the violent blast. The attack was so massive that even the towering sea serpent was lost in its light as it was struck. Cyclone did not hold up. She didn't even consider sparing it. Ten seconds later her attack ended. She closed her mouth again, smoke escaping through her nostrils. She had wasted all her energy on performing that move, and she would need time to get it back. But it had done its job. Gyarados had collapsed, a coiled victim after a vicious brawl. That was Lance's first pokémon defeated already. Joe smiled to himself. "Great work, Cyclone." He called. He glanced at the scoreboard. Indeed the points had gone down, now reading 6:5 to Joe. He was a little surprised that he'd already started winning.

"Go, Kingdra!" Lance shouted suddenly. Joe turned quickly back to the fight. A large blue seahorse had appeared on Lance's side of the field where his gyarados had been. He'd already withdrawn it. This was the first time Joe had seen anyone in the position of gym leader of Elite Four not stop to talk or think before continuing the fight. It had thrown him off guard, and quickly he would pay the price for it. "Hyper Beam!" Lance instructed. Joe gulped. He was in real trouble now. He looked at Cyclone. She couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot due to exhaustion. Her hyper beam had drainer her of energy, leaving her very tired and worse, completely vulnerable. Kingdra had its tiny eyes targeted into her. It gathered light, ready to attack her with the move she had just used herself. Cyclone could do nothing to prevent her fate. All she could do was close her eyes. Kingdra fired the hyper beam. The light engulfed Cyclone in seconds. When it faded she'd been thrown several metres back, lying out like a dried work. She did not get back up.

There was an excited cheer from the crowd. The fight was already getting very intense. Both trainers had defeated one of their opponent's pokémon. At this rate the battle wouldn't just be quick, it'd be glorious! Joe looked at his defeated red gyarados. He then turned to Lance. The champion was smiling at him, not showing anything other than a simple smile. Joe was stunned. He had switched his pokémon out so quickly, and had continued the fight without a second of thinking needed. He could feel his hands get a little sweatier. This was definitely not going to be an easy fight. He would really have to knuckle down if he wanted to stand any chance of winning. Joe reached for Cyclone's pokeball and withdrew her. He then clipped it back to his belt, unclipped another pokeball and sent that one out.

"Go, Leaf." He called. The powerful Meganium appeared on the field, ready to fight once again. There was barely a pause to breath. Immediately attacks were being called out.

"Twister!" Lance called.

"Razor Leaf!" Joe called.

Kingdra breathed a dark blue vortex out onto the field. It spiralled across the ground, throwing dust and dirt out across the arena in its wake towards the grass type opponent. Leaf flicked his head and threw a flurry of bladed leaves at his water type opponent. The attack was sucked up by Kingdra's small tornado and thrown uselessly aside. Leaf was surprised by this. He didn't know his attack could be stopped like that. The twister continued on, striking Leaf in the front and battering him a bit. He sustained a few minor bruises, but he was mostly unhurt. Now it was his turn to attack back.

"Use Body Slam!" Joe instructed. Leaf rushed at Kingdra, aiming to slam his full body weight into it.

"Ice Beam its feet!" Lance yelled. Kingdra fired a thin beam of ice out of its snout, striking the ground just in front of Leaf's stampeding front legs. The area that hit froze his ankles solid to the floor, the part that missed turned the ground under him into ice. Leaf reared, startled by the attack. His front right leg was frozen to the ground. Lance grinned to himself. "Nice work." He congratulated his pokémon. Kingdra showed no sign of happiness. It was too focused on the battle.

"Leaf, stay calm!" Joe instructed. Leaf tugged at his foot, trying to freak it from the tough ice gripping it down. He did as he was told, taking a few deep breaths and trying to be less violent with his movements. "Alright." Joe told him as he calmed a little. "Now, try to wriggle yourself free." Leaf slowly began to try squeezing his foot out. The more he tried this the more it seemed to work. He kept twisting his foot, ice particles breaking away with every second, until finally he freed himself. With a triumphant yell, Leaf reared up, happy to be free once more. "Well done." Joe cheered. Leaf flicked his head antennae, ready to fight again. He landed back on all fours. And then another ice beam struck him, this time freezing his front left leg to the ground. Leaf stared in surprise, as did Joe. In unison they gave a small annoyed growl at the opponent. Kingdra was grinning from the end of its nozzle mouth.

"Keep it pinned!" Lance instructed. Kingdra shot forwards, its curled tail flicking it forwards with a weird levitating motion, as if it was swimming through the low air. It began to dance around the stationary Meganium, as if it were playing with him. Every time Leaf struggled to break free it would just freeze its foot back down, or blast the other one to keep it pinned in the same place. Leaf was beginning to panic.

"Stop." Joe instructed quickly Leaf stood completely still, looking back at him. As he stopped struggling Kingdra stopped swimming. It sat about six feet away, watching them, waiting for its opponent to try and struggle again. "Don't struggle, that's not working." Joe said calmly. He'd quickly realised that Lance was using this against him. Every time Leaf tried to break free he was wasting energy and time. Each attack was doing damage to him, and freezing him to the spot. So instead of trying to break free of it, Joe would simply attack it at range. "Razor leaf!" Joe instructed. Leaf looked confused, unsure how that would help. "Attack Kingdra from where you are with razor leaf!" Joe told him. Leaf turned back to its attacker. Kingdra narrowed its eyes. The Meganium did as it was told. Leaf threw a flurry of sharp leaves at his opponent, only for Kingdra to dodge it with ease. He tried again. Again Kingdra dodged. Lance was still grinning. He folded his arms smoothly, as if this was a game to him. "Try to outwit it." Joe instructed. Leaf did his best. He threw two razor leaf attacks out simultaneously, hoping that Kingdra would dodge one only to walk in front of the other. But unfortunately Kingdra saw it coming and dodged the other way. Leaf was starting to get annoyed by this point. And that's when he got lucky.

In a fit of rage he switched attacks, throwing a razor leaf forcing Kingdra to move, then forcing a toxic up under its new location as it arrived. Kingdra was unable to dodge this attack. It stepped right into the middle of it. The toxic quickly took hold, spreading poison up its tail and through its spine in a matter of seconds. Purple bubbles were already appearing at the tip of its snout. Kingdra looked down at the attack in surprise, taking its eyes of Leaf for a split second. Leaf took his chance and charged with it. He broke free of the ice and slammed into the unaware seahorse, knocking it backwards with a surprising amount of force. Kingdra was sent floating a sturdy distance back.

"Quickly, use synthesis!" Joe called. Leaf focused, sending his energy into his neck flower. The pink and yellow petals began to glow with a bright green aura as they absorbed the artificial light flooding the arena. This light was used to regain Leaf's strength and energy. It didn't do much to help, due to the fact that the light was not natural sunlight, but it helped him a little. Kingdra had recovered by the time he had finished. It was already preparing to make another attack.

"Hydro Pump!" Lance commanded. Kingdra took aim and fired a massive and extremely powerful surge of water at its grass type foe. Leaf took the attack head on, but was surprised by how quickly it was wearing him down. The attack may not be effective on him, but the sheer force of it was causing all the damage. It had such force, Leaf found he was unable to hold against it. He lost his gripping as the water drenched his legs and the floor. His feet were unable to push against the attack, and he found himself sliding slowly backwards. The attack stopped a few seconds later. Leaf shook his head, flower and body, trying to get the water off of him. "Ice Beam!" Lance called. Kingdra prepared to fire a beam of ice.

"Razor Leaf!" Joe shouted in slight panic. Leaf, in an attempt to fight back, scuttled to eth side whilst throwing a bustle of crescent leaves at his opponent. Kingdra's attack was accurate. It struck Leaf straight in his chest. His body froze up in an instant, the water still remaining on him speeding up his solidifying process. He stood as an ice sculpture, pulling a scared and panicking expression. His leaves fell to the floor beside him, useless without their master sending them to attack. Kingdra floated up to its opponent and tapped it with its tail. The ice shell made a 'tink' sound as it touched it. Leaf was not going to defrost any time soon. Lance grinned to himself. But as he did so he realised that something was wrong with Kingdra. The large blue seahorse had suddenly seized up. It flinched forwards, grabbing at its stomach with its tail. Purple bubbles were floating out from its snout once more. Its stomach scales had turned a nasty shade of purple. Then, with a final lurch and a gurgle, Kingdra collapsed. Lance was shocked, as was the audience.

There was a short pause, before a rousing applause. The audience began to cheer again, for both trainers. There seemed to be a debate as to who would win this match. It seemed that so far it could still go either way.

 _"_ _So far it's going very interestingly, folks."_ The announcer blurted aloud. _"Lance is showing his strength as we expect, but somehow our challenger still stands, and has not only lost two of his pokémon, but also defeated two of Lance's team. This has already proven to be a very enticing battle. Let's see how much more intense it can get."_ Lance withdrew Kingdra, as did Joe, as the scoreboard changed again. Now it was reading 4:4 to both trainers. They were on a draw, for now. That would quickly change.

"So, they want a show." Lance said cunning. He unclipped a pokémon. "It's only right we give them one." Joe unclipped his next pokeball as Lance released his next pokémon. "Go, Dragonair!" He called. The long, limbless dragon appeared on Lance's end of the field, curling up and flexing, ready to fight. Joe sent out his next Pokémon.

"Go, Terrence!" He called. Terrence appeared, trumpeting loudly to announce his arrival. Dragonair smirked a little to itself. It seemed amused by its opponent's attempt to be threatening.

"Iron Tail!" Lance commanded. Dragonair suddenly attacked, giving Terrence no time to react. Before he could even blink Dragonair was in front of him, its long tail swinging forwards, the end half glistening silver. It swiped his feet out from under him, curling up and finishing the attack with a slam downwards. Terrence groaned as it impacted into his chest. He curled up to prevent any further harm coming his way, but the attack had already been made. Dragonair backed up, knowing it was likely he was going to attack back now.

Joe gulped, a little stunned by how quickly the attack had come and how powerful it had been. "Rollout." He instructed blindly. Terrence, remaining in his curled up state, began to rotate on the spot. As he gained speed he suddenly shot forwards, rolling in the direction of his opponent. Dragonair attempted to slither out of the way. The first attack passed by, narrowly missing Dragonair by a hair, but the second attempt was more successful. With a quick turn Terrence came rolling back, slamming into Dragonair's back before it could properly turn around. The slick dragon crumpled under the weight of the attack as Terrence steamrolled over it like a rampaging tank. He turned around and came back for another attack. Dragonair recovered quickly and dodged aside, jumping with a mighty push of its tail to the left of the attack. Terrence rolled past. He uncurled, returning to standing on his four feet to attack.

"Slam!" Lance commanded. Dragonair swung its tail at Terrence, smacking him in the side with a surprising amount of force. The armoured pokémon was struck several feet back. Terrence recovered quickly and prepared for another attack.

"Horn Attack!" Joe commanded. Terrence charged, tusks spiked forwards to skewer his opponent.

"Thunder Wave!" Lance instructed. Dragonair sent a small wake-shaped spark from its horn towards Terrence. The attack struck his legs, sticking to his ankles and sparking like electric handcuffs. Terrence fell flat on his face, finding his legs had gone stiff in mid run. His trunk stuck up limply. He slowly pushed himself up, but it was a struggle as his front legs were still troubled by static. Dragonair was still smiling smugly. It seemed to think it had this fight in the bag. "Iron Tail!" Lance commanded again. Terrence looked up, only to receive a long glistening tail to the face. He was thrown back several feet. He curled up, rolling for the last few feet and lowering the total amount of damage he took by a large fraction. He quickly uncurled and stood up properly, seemingly breaking his paralysis off as he did so. He rutted his foot along the plastic floor, preparing to charge. Dragonair readied for his attack as well, curling its tail around itself so it could move quicker. Terrence charged, rushing towards Dragonair with his tusks first. Dragonair dodged aside as Terrence charged past, narrowly avoiding the attack. But Terrence had been expecting this. As he passed by he swung his trunk out and struck Dragonair in the face with a clump of wet mud. The snake-like dragon recoiled, its eyes blinded by the attack. Now Terrence had a chance to land an attack. He turned around and charged again, this time striking Dragonair in the back. He rammed into the dragon tusks first, dragging it forwards along the floor. Dragonair yelled in pain, the mud sliding off its eyes. It managed to break free, but it suffered serious wounds from the attack. Terrence had struck down half its health in one attack.

"Earthquake!" Joe commanded. Terrence began to pound his feet on the ground. The floor shook, cracks appearing in the plastic as the quaking grew stronger. Dragonair was shaken about where it sat, unable to gain balance over the attack due to having no legs to stand on. It was battered left and right as the quaking grew stronger and stronger. With the very last shockwave it was sent tumbling backwards, its underbelly bruised by so many strikes under it. Terrence saw a chance to make another attack. He charged again with another horn attack, this time striking Dragonair in the chest. He dragged the dragon along under his tusk for several feet before flicking his head and throwing it to the side. It landed limply like a long, thin rag at the side of the ring. Terrence curled up and attempted to finish it off with a rollout.

"Iron Tail!" Lance commanded. Dragonair slowly pushed itself up, saw the ball of grey and black armour rolling towards it, and glared. It waited for Terrence to get close enough before attacking. When the ball of armour was only a few feet away, Dragonair swung its tail around, the tip glistening silver. It struck Terrence in the side. The force of the impact was so powerful that it send Terrence rolling all the way back across the arena. He skidded to a halt, looking tired and bruised from the attack, but came rolling back in to attack once again. "Hyper Beam!" Lance instructed. Dragonair charged its attack. Terrence didn't stop. He couldn't see the attack coming from his ball form, he could only see his target. He knew it was weak, he know that one more attack could take it out, but sadly it appeared he didn't know when to stop. Dragonair fired. The massive white beam struck Terrence head on. For a second he was invisible in its bright light. Then he could be seen flying out the other end like a baseball struck for a home run. With a painful and half-conscious trumped, he sailed out of the air and struck the ground with a heavy thud. He did not get back up.

The crowd went wild. Another pokémon was down, and this time it was Joe falling behind. The points had dropped to 3:4 to Lance. Joe quickly withdrew Terrence, thanking him for his effect. He'd realised that in order to beat Lance he'd have to be quick thinking and quick responding. Getting another pokémon onto the field now would give him a chance to fight back sooner. And luckily for him Lance had made the same mistake he had earlier.

"Go, Quill." Joe called. The pokeball rolled out and released the fire-coated man sized monster onto the field. "Flame Wheel!" Joe commanded. Quill curled up, ignited, rolled forwards in a stunning burst of speed, and struck the exhausted Dragonair in the front as it rested from its attack. The strike knocked it back into awareness, allowing it to strike back. Dragonair slammed its whole body forwards, batting Quill backwards a few feet. Quill recovered quickly and attacked back, slamming its full strength into Dragonair's body. This turned into a wrestle as Dragonair attempted to push back.

"Iron Tail!" Lance commanded. Dragonair stung its steely tail around, but Quill dodged backwards, avoiding it.

"Rollout!" Joe commanded. Quill curled up and rolled straight into Dragonair's chest. Having knocked it over, he turned back and struck it again in the spine. He continued to roll forwards and back, striking the Dragonair each time, until it was over, and Dragonair finally collapsed.

The audience applauded even louder. The fight had really just got tense. Both trainers were down to only three pokémon. The score was now 3:3 to both. Lance withdrew Dragonair from the field. With barely a pause to breath he sent his next pokémon out.

"Go, Aerodactyl!" He threw the pokeball, releasing the large rock winged dinosaur onto the field. "Fly!" He instructed immediately. The winger reptile took of up into the air, hovering above the battlefield. Quill looked up at it, watching from bellow, unable to attack until it came back down. He didn't have to wait long. Aerodactyl came swooping back down several seconds later, jaws wide and sharp wings extended out. It dive bombed Quill like an attack plane made of rock. Quill had been preparing for it. As Aerodactyl swooped down he released a blast of flame from his mouth, striking the winged lizard in the face and chest. Aerodactyl pulled up again, calling off its attack and recoiling from its wounds. It had a few small burns on its chest and neck where the flamethrower had struck. It turned back around to attack once more.

"Flamethrower!" Joe called, realising that the attack was probably his best chance of taking out Aerodactyl.

"Dragonbreath!" Lance commanded. Both pokémon attacked, breathing their various fire attacks at one another. Quill spewed a simple red fire at his airborne opponent, while Aerodactyl ventured to use the more uncommon purple and yellow flames of a dragon. The two attacks did not collide. Instead they meshed and passed through one another. Quill was struck in the face by dragon flame, while Aerodactyl's belly was burned by a blast of hot, smoky fire. "Fly again!" Lance commanded. Aerodactyl flew up high, out of the reach of another flamethrower. Quill waited once again for his opponent to return. Ten seconds later Aerodactyl swooped in for the kill.

"Rollout!" Joe commanded. Quill curled up and sped forwards, this time holding back on the flames. He struck Aerodactyl as it reached the lowest point in the air and swooped forwards to attack. The attack hit his opponent directly in the face. Aerodactyl groaned and pulled up once more, dodging the return attack. Quill continued to roll around the ring, unable to stop until he'd worn the attack off.

"Hyper Beam!" Lance commanded. Aerodactyl readied to fire the massive beam of light energy. Quill stopped and glanced up.

"Look out!" Joe shouted. Quill acted instantly. He jumped aside, curling up into a ball again as he landed and rolling away down the arena. Aerodactyl fired. The hyper beam struck the arena floor, to feet behind Quill. The large but very fast fire pokémon rolled away, avoiding the beam as it tried to catch up with him. When it was over all Aerodactyl had managed to do was burn a large glowing line into the floor of the arena. Lance seemed a bit annoyed by this.

"Nice try." He muttered, speaking to his pokémon. "But next time wait for it to stop before firing." Joe was a little surprised. This was the first thing Lance had said all battle that wasn't a command. He hadn't seen it coming. He quickly refocused on the battle. Aerodactyl was already swooping in for another attack, and if he stopped paying attention any longer Quill would suffer for it.

"Flamethrower!" Joe instructed. Quill blasted a gallon of flame at his swooping opponent.

"Flamethrower!" Lance Instructed. Aerodactyl flew over Quill's head and blasted it right back. Quill's attack missed, whereas Aerodactyl's attack struck him straight in the back. Quill flinched. He hadn't taken much damage, but the attack had been quite painful to take, even for a fire type. "Fly!" Lance instructed again. Aerodactyl flew high up, leaving Quill to wait again. This time when he came swooping back down thing went differently. First of all, Aerodactyl was flying faster. It also breathed out a blast of dragon fire as it swooped in. The purple-blue and yellow flames struck Quill in the face, blinding him for a few seconds as well as burning him. Then Aerodactyl followed through with the wing attack. It struck Quill wings first, knocking the large flaming rodent onto his back.

"Flame wheel when it comes back around!" Joe instructed. Quill ignited himself again, preparing for his attack. But Aerodactyl didn't turn around and attack again. Instead it swooped up, spiralled overhead, and came back down behind Quill. Another fly attack struck Quill in the back and knocked him flat with a nasty smack. The flaming pokémon groaned in pain as Aerodactyl landed in front of it a few feet away, grinning with its massive rocky jaws.

"Dragonbreath!" Lance commanded. Aerodactyl inhaled and breathed out a pillar of blue flame. The attack struck Quill as he tried to stand up once more, battering and pushing him back. "Hyper Beam!" Lance yelled. Joe, realising that Quill was in serious trouble, decided to take drastic action.

"Quill!" He called. Quill glanced weakly at him struggling to stay up on all fours. Joe could see that he was already pushing past his limits. The dragon flames had hurt him more than it seemed. Joe gulped, ready to make a quick command. "Trust me." Joe told him calmly. "Get as close as you can, wait for the right time, then use Flamethrower! You got that?" Quill nodded. Joe smiled as best he could at his pokémon. He was trying to be hopeful, but the signs weren't too good for his pokémon. Even if this little plan didn't work, hopefully it wouldn't end too badly for him. Quill took a few steps forwards. Aerodactyl didn't move, preparing its attack still. For some reason it was taking a rather long time to perform. Quill got closer and closer. Aerodactyl pulled its head back a little, a slight hiss emanating from the back of its mouth. Joe knew this sign. It was about to fire. "Now!" He shouted. Aerodactyl's head pushed forwards. Light began to grow out from it, burning hot like the sun. Quill breathed a tone of flame straight into the reptile's mouth. The fire scorched its jaws and travelled straight down its throat. Aerodactyl choked on the blaze. Its mouth snapped shut, blocking its attack, its eyes widened as its lungs were scorched and its soft inner mouth was scolded. Smoke began to waft out from its nostrils. Its eyes watered. And then it collapsed, its wings twitching and its eyes pouring tears. There was a quiet gasp from the crowd. Lance's mouth almost fell open. He had most definitely not seen this coming.

"Oh." He muttered. He glanced from his fallen pokémon to Joe. "That was actually pretty smart." He said. "I must admit, I didn't expect you to do that." Joe shrugged back. He didn't say it, but he hadn't expected it to work either. Lance unclipped a pokeball and withdrew Aerodactyl from the field. Joe looked at Quill. He was exhausted, barely able to stand on hour legs. It would be cruel to keep him out any longer. He reached for his pokeball. "If you withdraw him it'll count as a penalty." Lance reminded him, noticing what Joe was doing. Joe looked up at the champion. "Are you sure you want to risk that?" Joe looked back at Quill. She knew what his decision was. Even if he did keep Quill out for one more turn, he wouldn't have a chance at landing an attack. Lance's pokémon tended to be quick and strong, rather than slow and bulky. Quill was too tired to be quick. One attack would be enough to defeat him. Joe held the pokeball out and withdrew his typhlosion from the field. Lance shrugged. "Your choice." He told him. The two trainers unclipped a new pokeball, as the scoreboard dropped to 2:2. The battle was nearing its end already. Together they released their next pokémon.

"Go, Pippy!" Joe called.

"Go, Dragonite!" Lance called.

Joe was not surprised that he'd be seeing this pokémon in the battle. Lance had used his dragonite during the incident at Lake Rage, when Joe had caught Cyclone the Red Gyarados. He'd also loaned it to his cousin Clair, who Joe had also battled. He'd seen it before. And now he was going to fight it. He hoped the Pippy could handle it. He turned to his proud and confident raichu standing at his side of the field. Dragonite flicked its tail, narrowing its eyes in preparation for battle. Lance folded his arms.

"You know you get to fight my closest pokémon." He said. "I hope you're honoured. Very few who battle me ever get this far. I should probably add that Dragonite is only my second strongest pokémon, though." He smiled. "So yeah, have fun."

Joe gulped. Only his second strongest. He had a pokémon stronger than Dragonite? He had seen this thing in battle. It had a hyper beam strong enough to blast the rock armour of a titan! It was quick enough to evade its returning attack and carry a fully grown human at the same time. He had something stronger than this? Joe couldn't help but feel a pit of fear rising up his throat. Pippy however seemed barely shaken by the size of his opponent, let alone the fact it was most certainly stronger than he was. He seemed to have finally stopped fearing his opponents as he once had, and had started to confront them with full frontal confidence. Joe admired it, but he didn't exactly know how good that actually was for him. The battle continued, jumping back into heated action in an instant.

"Dragonite, Safeguard!" Lance instructed. A weird ring aura ran around Dragonite's body, heading downwards to the ground. When it faded it left a small shimmer in Dragonite's skin, as if someone had washed it with the most effective and perfect cleaning lotion. It was far from looking beautiful though. Joe turned to Pippy.

"Thunderbolt!" He instructed simply. Pippy fired a bolt of electricity at the foe dragonite. It struck the dragon, causing it to flinch a little as it failed to even try avoiding the attack. But to Joe's surprise it did very little. Dragonite looked barely hurt, and there was not even a slight flicker of static on its body. Something it had done had cancelled out the static in the attack, not only weakening the attack but also removing the after effect. Joe realised that the move it had just done must be the cause of that, and he cursed himself for letting it get past him.

"Dynamic Punch!" Lance called. Dragonite took a step forwards. And then suddenly it was in front of Pippy. There was barely even a movement, just a blur. One second it was walking, and then it was here. Such speed was astounding for a beast so large. Pippy couldn't even react. Before he knew what was going on he'd been punched square in the face by a pudgy orange fist. The raichu was struck back, landing and rolling several metres back. He quickly recovered and fought back.

"Substitute!" Joe instructed. Pippy created a life-like doll of himself and hid behind it, waiting for Dragonite to attack again.

"Dynamic Punch again!" Lance commanded. Dragonite swooped in once more to attack, pulling its glowing fist back to strike. Pippy jumped as the attack struck his substitute and caused it to evaporate. He sailed over the dragon's head and landed on its back, clinging to its wings. Before dragonite could react Pippy had shot it in the spine with two thunderbolts. Dragonite roared in pain and swung around. Normally Pippy would have managed to hold on, but the speed and strength at which the dragon moved where too much for him. He was flung clear of dragonite's hulking body, landing a few feet back. Dragonite turned on him, glaring.

"Double Team!" Joe instructed. Pippy backed up a few steps. Dragonite was rushing at him again, punches ready. It arrived and swung at its opponent. But to its surprise the attack passed through the foe raichu. The image of Pippy faded away in an instant. Dragonite looked around to find itself surrounded by over a dozen raichus, each moving and sparking and glaring at him.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe called. Dragonite was shot in the back by a sharp jolt of electricity. It turned around, glaring. It swung its tail through a row of three raichus. Each of them disappeared one by one. "Again!" Joe called. This time a thunderbolt hit Dragonite in the side of the head. It turned and lashed out again with its tail. Once more the images disappeared as Pippy evaded its attack.

"Outrage!" Lance commanded. Pippy shot Dragonite a third time, this time in the back of the head. And finally Dragonite snapped. It let go of its control and unleashed its anger upon the battlefield. A red glowing aura began to grow around its body, and its eyes turned deep red and furious. It stomped both its feet down. And then a mass off blue fire erupted all around it. It stood where it was, roaring up at the sky wrathfully. The fire exploded, stretching out for several feet around it. Pippy, who was unfortunately close enough to be hit by the attack, was struck back a couple of feet, landing on his side. All of his illusions faded away in an instant. Dragonite turned on the lonely raichu now, its eyes glowing evilly and its jaw clenched tightly. It took a step forwards, and then it charged. Pippy stood no chance at fighting back. The mighty glowing dragon charged straight into him, coated in a red aura and raging blue fire. The attack was so powerful that Pippy was practically kicked across the arena. He landed near the wall, groaning weakly. Dragonite turned on him again, still furious, still glowing red, still alight with dragon flame. It charged once more, rampaging violently towards its smaller, less orange opponent. Pippy took a few steps away from the wall. He knew it was probably a bad idea to stand with his back to it. The dragon was getting quickly closer and closer.

"Pippy, move!" Joe called. Pippy waited for Dragonite to get a little closer. He had a plan in mind, and he was about to pull it off. Dragonite continued its charge. It was nearly at its target. Its eyes glowed brighter and a vicious smile grew on its mouth. Pippy finally jumped aside. Dragonite could not stop. Suddenly it realised the mistake it had made. It crashed face first into the wall, causing not only a mighty crash but also several large cracks. The audience gasped as the rock structure shook and fractured. Pippy scurried a metre away, charging up static to fight once more. Dragonite pushed itself out from the indent it had made in the wall and turned once more on its opponent. It growled at Pippy, still glowing, still outraged. Blue flames licked the wall. A thunderbolt struck it in the shoulder. Dragonite snapped once more. It charged again for a final attempt at the attack. It charged Pippy, glowing red and purple-blue. Dragonite arrived, and Pippy dodged to the left. But Dragonite was not going to let its opponent avoid another attack. With a blast of blue fire Dragonite erupted into flames. The force struck Pippy in the side as he dodged, sending him spinning through the air like a dry orange furry rag. Blue fire scorched his back. Dragonite roared once more, this time much louder than it had before. And as it did so the outrage wore off. The red aura faded, the dragon fire extinguished and suddenly Dragonite became calm and in control again.

Pippy struggled up to his feet again, only to see Dragonite standing calmly on the opposite side of the field. He felt a small amount of anger growing in him now, as if Dragonite's attack had a way of purposely infuriating its opponents as well. Dragonite was walking slowly towards him. Pippy had decided he wanted this thing down… now!

"Thunderbolt!" Joe instructed. Pippy decided he would do more than just fire a simple bolt of electricity. He would do something much bigger. He charged up electricity in his cheeks, fur and tail tip. His whole body began to spark as electric energy gathered and charged inside him.

"Dynamic Punch!" Lance commanded. Dragonite charged again to strike Pippy with a powerful punch. As it began to move the slight white aura that had been around it all this time suddenly faded away. It was almost unnoticeable, but Joe had noticed it. That meant that its safeguard had gone. It could be hurt by static now.

"Pippy, fire now!" Joe instructed. Pippy didn't listen. He kept charging his attack, waiting until Dragonite was so close that there was no way of dodging it. Dragonite continued its attack, rushing at Pippy, ready to strike the small mouse away. It was barely a metre away now. Pippy finally fired his attack. He struck Dragonite head on with a massive blast of electricity. The attack was immense. A huge wave of static passed up and down Dragonite's body, seizing it into place. The electricity shot up and down its body, and then faded away into the ground. Dragonite flinched. Its attack had faded away uselessly. Pippy stepped around the giant and backed up a bit. Dragonite looked about ready to collapse now. The attack had been so powerful it had zapped away all its energy. But sadly for Pippy Dragonite still had one move up its short, pudgy sleeve.

"Hyper Beam!" Lance commanded. Dragonite slowly turned around, static still freezing up its body. It opened its mouth and prepared to attack. Bright white light began to glow from inside.

"Thunderbolt!" Joe instructed. He hoped to pull off another attack to finish Dragonite before it could attack, similar to what Quill had done with Aerodactyl. But this time it seemed he was unfortunate. Pippy fired a bolt of electricity at Dragonite. The attack very nearly hit its straight in the head. It was so close. But it wasn't quick enough. Dragonite fired. The white beam evaporated the thunderbolt inches away from its target, and continued on to strike Pippy. The large mouse was engulfed in the bright light. He stood no chance at surviving it. When the light faded Pippy was lying on his side, unconscious. Dragonite halted its attack and grinned. It had won. Its chest suddenly began to ache. With a small stumble the large dragon lurched forwards, lost its footing, and landed flat on the ground with a slight quake. Both pokémon were down and out. The audience applauded wildly. Lance and Joe withdrew their pokémon from the field, sighing heavily. The scoreboard dropped to 1 pokémon left each.

"It looks like this battle is down to its last stage, folks." The announcer stated eagerly. "With one pokémon left on each side, who will be strong enough to win this match and either claim or keep the title of champion?"

Joe glared at Lance. Lance glared back. The two of them locked stares. This was it. The last fight was about to happen. Joe began to wonder if he could really do it. He had gotten this fare, but Lance still had his strongest pokémon left. He had already defeated Dragonite. Who knew what his next pokémon would be. He felt a small amount of nerves chill his spine. The crowd cheered louder and louder, the sound of their voices echoing through his head. And then he picked out one specific voice above all the others. "Knock 'em dead, Joe!" He turned his head to the audience. In one corner of the stands he saw a girl with long ginger hair and green eyes watching him, her green coat tight around her chest and shoulders and her arms folded on her lap. She smiled kindly at him. Joe found himself smiling back. Winter was watching him. She had been there all this time after all. She would see him through to the very end. It didn't matter if he could win anymore. The fact that he knew his closest friend was still with him gave him enough confidence to not give up just yet.

"Thank you, Winter Kitoshi!" He muttered to himself. He saw her wink at him, her smile growing a little larger as she did so. Joe turned back to the battle. "Alright, Lance." He said. "Let's finish this."

Lance unclipped his final pokeball and released it. "Go, Charizard!" He called. The pokeball snapped open, and released Lance's last pokémon. On his side of the field stood tall, red, winged, long tailed, sharp clawed, fanged mouthed, evil eyed, fiery breathed, furious and vicious charizard. Charizard roared, exhaling a tone of flame as it did so. Lance folded his arms. "May the best trainer win!" He stated aloud.

"Good luck to you, too!" Joe retorted back. Their stared interlocked once more, and battle continued on into its final stage.

The last fight was an interesting event to witness. It was more like a dance. Ralph flew out to attack, being the only pokémon left to fight on Joe's team. He flew in to pull off a direct steel wing. Charizard blocked his attack with its wing, lashing out with a wing attack from the other limb. Ralph blocked it with his other skin flap appendage. The two of them glared at each other, their wings together in combat. Charizard however had the upper hand in two areas. It had claws, and it had a fire breathing mouth. In fact it used both of these for its next attacks. Charizard blasted Ralph in the face with a sharp breath of flame. Ralph backed off, his attack failing. Then, taking full advantage of the opportunity, Charizard slashed at its crobat opponent. Ralph tried to dodge, but the sharp claws cut his left wing, scaring it. He winced, the skin bruising and nearly tearing through. He glared up at his opponent. Charizard grinned cruelly at him, its tail fire growing brighter and hotter. Ralph decided that he would get his own back on it, and he knew exactly how he'd do it. He backed up, putting on a rather convincing hurt display. He made it look as though the attack had hurt him a lot, letting his wing hang limp at his side and moaning as if the pain was too much to handle. And Charizard fell for it. It stepped forwards, grinning to itself. It saw this as a chance to finish it off now. It raised its claw up to slash Ralph on the back of the head. Before it could bring the attack down, Ralph spun around again. He screeched straight into Charizards face. The large red lizard jumped in shock, its ears bursting with the loud sound. It reached for its head, trying to block the sound out. And Ralph attacked once more. He pulled of three successful steel wing attacks, before pulling his four wings back and slashing a cross poison onto Charizards bruised chest. The dragon stumbled back, glancing down and choking on the pain in its ears and torso. A large purple X marked its scaly skin. Purple liquid was dripping from it. It glanced up and glared at Ralph. Ralph was already moving onto his next attack, no time left to celebrate. He struck Charizard with a confuse ray, the tiny ball beam hitting Charizards forehead as it looked up and affecting its brain in an instant. Charizards vision became double. The whole arena, including its occupants, blurred up like smudged paint on a wet canvas. It stumbled back a little, unable to find its balance. Its tail swept about, nearly sweeping its own legs out from under it. Ralph smiled to himself. He had this thing crippled already. This would take long. One accurate and powerful attack would take it down for sure. He backed up and flew high into the sky, preparing to dive attack his opponent.

"Focus!" Lance commanded. Charizard shoo its head, trying to clear its mind. It had lost sight of its opponent, but he couldn't have gone far. Everything was still confused. But he calmed itself and kept its head still, trying to focus. As it did so things started to become clearer. Its vision slowly returned to normal, as the double vision fused together and the faded imagery refocused and cleared up. "Good!" Lance said. "Now, use Flame Blast! Strike it out of the sky!" Charizard looked up. Ralph was flying down towards it, his wings folded in and preparing to strike it head on. Charizard clenched its jaw and waited for Ralph to arrive. Small flames lapped at its lips. The, when Ralph was close enough, it fired its attack. A massive flaming five-pointed star blasted out from its mouth and struck the crobat head on before it could do anything. Ralph dropped like a purple stone. He landed painfully, his skin burned and his body bruised. He tried to recover as quickly as he could, but the attack had been so powerful it had blasted the strength right out of him. He was barely holding already. And Charizard was walking towards him. It was grinning evilly, one sharp dagger-like claw raised to slash a final scar into Ralph's body.

"Come on, Ralph!" Joe called. "Give it a taste of its own medicine!" Ralph glanced back at his trainer. Joe was so determined now. They were so close. Just one more pokémon to defeat, and then it was all done. He couldn't fail now. He couldn't live with himself if he did. He turned back to Charizard. Its attack was swinging down. Ralph did the only thing he could. He rolled aside. Charizards attack hit the plastic floor. It growled and turned, swinging its tail. The bulky appendage hit Ralph in the side, sending him rolling. Fortunately for the crobat this attack had given him a small amount of lift, allowing him to get back into the air much quicker. He swooped up and attacked again, flying past Charizard and slashing his sharp wing across his face. Charizard growled and followed the flying bat as he swooped away. Ralph turned and stopped on the opposite side of the field. The two pokémon glared at each other. The two trainers glared at each other.

"It's time to end this fight!" Lance roared. "Charizard, use hyper beam!"

"Take it down now, Ralph!" Joe commanded.

Ralph flew straight at Charizard, knowing this was his last chance to win. He was too tired to dodge, and even if he tried Charizard was clearly an accurate attacker. The only thing he could do was try and land an attack before Charizard could. Charizard gathered light. Ralph sped towards it. The audience held their breath. Then charizard fired. Ralph was truck half way across the battlefield. He held his front wings up in front of him in defence as the blinding light struck and engulfed him. Charizard and Lance grinned. But then they gasped. Ralph's silhouette reappeared in the light of the attack. He was still standing, and still moving. The light parted around him, his wings cutting it in half somehow. It was like a miracle. Somehow he was resisting the damage. With a furious glare the crobat pushed on, somehow moving forwards against the blinding, burning forceful light. Charizards eyes widened as the crobat got closer and closer. It did not stop its attack. It kept firing with all its strength, doing its best to stop it in its track. But Ralph refused to go down. He denied it completely. To him, loss was impossible. He would not go down until he was certain this his opponent was going with him. Ever mouth in the arena dropped open, all eyes wide and watching in impossible amazement. This went on for several seconds. A purple wing grabbed Charizards mouth and slammed it shut. The hyper beam stopped. Ralph was floating right in front of it. Charizard stared at his opponent with terrified eyes. Ralph stared back, showing no remorse. Then the crobat pulled its head back and struck forwards. There was a crack. Charizard stumbled, fell and hit the ground, unconscious. Ralph sighed. He closed his eyes, and then three seconds later he was also on the floor. The audience was stunned. No one said anything for a solid minute.

"…" lance said nothing.

"…" Joe was stunned.

"…" The audience was astonished.

 _"…"_ The announcer was dead silent.

The only sound came from the scoreboard. The points dropped. The first to change was Lance's score, turning into a 1:0 to the challenger. The small click of the number sounded the victory.

"Oh… My… God…!" Lance muttered, open mouth. He looked up from his defeat pokémon to his opponent. "You… won."

His words were followed by an astoundingly loud cheer from the audience. Every man, woman, child and beast that was not participating in the fight broke out into amazed clapping, cheering, applause, whistling, calling, chanting and even furious hugging. It had been an amazing sight. It had been a battle to remember, one for the history books. The day would go down as the day a fourteen year old boy defeated Lance, the greatest trainer in Johto's league history.

 _"_ _I don't believe it, Ladies and Gentlemen!"_ The announcer stated with amazed excitement. _"I never thought it was possible, but our challenger had indeed defeated the champion of Johto. I'm actually crying right now, I'm so amazed!"_ There was the sound of him wiping a tear and blowing his nose away from the mic. _"Our challenger has done it, folks. He had risen up and defeated not only the Elite Four, but the Champion as well. He is, as of today, October the 22_ _nd_ _, the stronger trainer in both Johto and Kanto. All hail our newest champion, JOSEPH GLENDE!"_

Joe walked across the field to where Ralph was lying, and picked him up off the ground. He held his injured and defeated pokémon in his arms. Ralph opened his eyes weakly and looked up at his trainer with a smug smile. Joe smiled back with a beaming grin.

"We did it, buddy." He smiled proudly. "You beat Lance. We won!" Ralph's grin grew three times wider. He hugged Joe's shoulder with his healthy wing, the tip wrapping around the back of his neck.

Lance withdrew and walked over to the duo at the middle of the arena.

"Congratulations, Joe." He said kindly. "I knew you'd be strong the second you stepped in here, but this just proved how strong. Honestly, I've never been defeated like that before." He glanced down at Ralph. "You have a strong, and stubborn, pokémon at your side." He said admiringly. "I've certainly never seen anything split a hyper beam the way he did." He looked back up at Joe. "You deserve the title of champion, well and truly."

Joe smiled back. "Thanks and all…" Joe said with a smile. "But you can keep it. It's not for me." Lance raised an eyebrow. He was actually shocked at what he was being told.

"You came all this way, defeated the Elite Four, Defeated me, only to then refuse becoming champion?" Lance chuckled a little. "You surprise me. I heard you pulled something like this with the Kanto League when you defeated them." He put a hand on Joe's shoulder and gave him an honest look. "So I'm going to ask you truthfully, and I want you to really think about this. Are you sure you honestly want to turn this down?" Joe smiled back at him.

"I never wanted to become a champion." Joe told him. "Trust me, you're more of a champion then me. I just defeated a few criminals and use strong pokémon."

"That's enough to make you a champion in most people's eyes." Lance told him.

"Maybe…" Joe agreed. "But not in my own. I don't deserve it." He took a step back, shaking Lance's hand off. "You should keep your throne. You kept it this long. Who says I should take it." Lance's mouth actually dropped open. He continued to look stunned for a few seconds before closing his mouth once more and coughing subtly.

"Well…" He said, unsure what he should do now. "It's your decision. I can't change your mind?" Joe shook his head. "Right." Lance scratched the back of his head. He took a few steps forwards and confronted the crowd. "Uh, folks…" He stated, sounding weirdly unsure about himself. "It appears there's been a change off plan." He glanced back at Joe, checking to see if he'd changed his mind. He hadn't. He gulped, knowing what he had to say next. "While my challenger did indeed defeat me today, he has decided not to take my place as champion." There was a gasp from the audience. They could not believe what they were hearing. A small majority of them had seen the fight between Joe and Tom at the Kanto League, and had been surprised then when Joe turned the championship down. But this was Lance. Lance had never been defeated as Champion. No one in their right mind would ever turn down the right to championship after beating Lance. But they saw Joe's expression. He was smiling happily. He didn't even seem to be in two minds about the idea. He didn't care that he wasn't going to be the champion. "So the decision is this." Lance continued gaining some confidence. "I am going to be continuing on a Johto Champion for now, until someone else eventually defeats me and takes my place." He turned to Joe. "But our friend will not be going home empty handed." He stated with a smile. "He shall go down in the Hall of Fame, like all the champions before us" He paused. "For the purest reason that he defeated me, and that he gave me back my crown right after taking it."

The audience was completely quiet. And then there was an absolute explosion of applause. Everyone clapped. Everyone cheered. Every called. Everyone praised them. The entire arena was full of sound. Joe and Ralph were both blushing a little. All the attention was unusual. They hid their faces. Lance turned and walked back over to Joe. He put an arm on his shoulder.

"It's time that we ended off the day." He told him simply, and led him out of the arena.

Lance took Joe through the bright golden doorway and out of the stadium. The doors closed behind them, and the sounds of the audience were cut of instantly as they did so. Ralph took to flying by Joe's side again, regaining enough strength to do so from his short rest. Lance led them down a dark hallway, the only light provided from tiny floor lights under their feet. The floor was a dark green, and the walls were made of a simple steel. At the end of the hall was computer, and attacked to that computer was a pokémon healing station, the kind you saw in a pokémon centre. Lance stopped and stood beside the machine.

"I assume you know what this does?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Joe said. "I saw the one used in the Kanto League challenge."

"It's the same machine." Lance told him. "All you need to do is place all your pokémon's pokeballs into the healing station, and the computer will take down a record." Lance began tapping buttons into the keyboard. A few second later the machine's glass roof slid open. "Go ahead and put them in." Joe unclipped each of his pokeballs and placed them inside the machine. Terrence's ball was first, because he was the newest member of Joe's team. Then it was Cyclone, the red gyarados. Then Quill. Then Leaf. Then Pippy. And last was Ralph's ball, the white pokeball. Joe remember how he had caught all of them. He remembered all the adventures they'd been on. It already felt like so long ago. The lid slid closed and the machine retreated back into the computed. Lance began pressing buttons. "I'll set the machine to run now." He told him. He finished typing. A command appeared on the small screen. It read _'Scan registered Pokeballs and Trainer Data? (Y/N)'_. Lance turned to Joe. "Before I do this, I'd like to ask you something." He said suddenly.

"Ask away." Joe told him. Lance took a deep breath.

"I was just wandering…" He said. "…after all you've been through to get here, after how close that fight was, after how I very nearly beat you in the end… why did you say no to becoming the champion?"

Joe was quiet for a little while as he came up with his answer.

"Because I don't want to be a champion?" He told him simply. Lance still looked confused.

"Then why did you take up my challenge?" He asked.

"I wanted to see if I could do it." Joe told him honestly. "I wanted to see how strong I really was. And now I have." He smiled a little. "I never wanted to be champion. I never wanted to fight Team Rocket. I never wanted any of that gods' chosen one stuff. I just wanted to have an adventure. I just wanted to catch and train pokémon, to meet new people, to see new places, to see how far I could go, to have an experience. In the end that's what my real rewards is, not the title of champion."

Lance was honest-to-god stunned by his words. "You know, hearing you say that reminds me of when I first became a pokémon trainer." He muttered. He gave Joe a small but proud smile. "I admire your mind-set, my friend. I'm sure, even after this, you'll continue to do great things." He turned to the compute and pressed _'Yes'_.

* * *

Joe and Ralph walked out into the waiting hall a few minutes later and were greeted by a round of applause. All his friends were waiting for him. His uncle was there to pat him on the back. Rocky was there, with his boyfriend. Tom was there, having somehow been told about Joe's challenge earlier that day and turned up for the last few minutes. But the pair Joe was really surprised to see waiting for him was Silver and Crystal. The second he stepped out he was greeted by the two of them. Crystal hugged him, while Silver gave him a massive slap on the back.

"Congratulations, mate!" Silver cheered. "You finally showed them all how much of a moron you are!" Joe smiled and laughed with him.

"Shut up, Silver." He chuckled.

"Seriously." Silver told him. "We got here in time to see the last fight, Tom, Crystal and I. You were amazing. That moment when Ralph cut through Charizards hyper beam! I never saw that coming!"

"Neither did we." Joe muttered, glancing awkwardly at Ralph. Ralph was pulling a surprised face.

"I never got to say thank you." Crystal told them. "Thank you for stopping Team Rocket, and thank you for saving me." Azi jumped up and down beside her, the small azumarill happy to see his trainer in a cheerful mood finally.

"Did you find your family in the end?" Joe asked her. Crystal nodded.

"Yeah." She told him. "They were so worried about me. I had no idea they cared so much."

"Her step dad had been out looking for her all over the region apparently." Silver told her. "Her mother had been crying for weeks, getting no sleep. You should have seen their faces when I brought her home." He smiled, his heart warmed. "Makes me wish I had a family like that."

"What about you then, Silver?" Joe asked.

"Silver's going to live with me for a while." Crystal told him, hugging her boyfriend's arm. "I talked with my mum and with Alan and they're okay with him living with us, provided he doesn't sleep in my room." Silver blushed.

"To be fair, I think that's an acceptable clause in the agreement." He said, trying to be modest. Crystal leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, good luck to the two of you." Joe told them. "I'm so glad it all went well. Thank you for showing up for me." The couple smiled back.

"You're welcome, dude." Silver told him. "Do it again any time." Joe turned to Tom and Rocky. They had stepped up to say high now.

"Well mate, you did it twice." Tom told him with a grin. "Honestly, I think you're mad. You turned down the opportunity to be a champion more than once." Joe shrugged.

"You forgot that I let you be champion after you threw a temper tantrum." Joe said in a jokey way. "Besides, I don't want to be a champion anymore." He grinned "I don't need a title. I know I'm awesome."

"Getting a little cocky, are we." Rocky asked. "Well don't forget that I could have beaten you, and they you wouldn't have gotten the chance to refuse being champion twice."

"Yeah, and I nearly beat you two when you battled me." Tom told him.

"That was half a year ago." Joe reminded him. "I'm obviously a lot stronger now than I was then."

"Rocky, it's getting late. We should probably get going soon." Greg interrupted.

"In a minute." Rocky told him. He turned back to Joe with a big smile. "I was glad to get a second chance to battle you." He told him. "It was a lot of fun. And thank you for helping me learn a bit about being in the Elite Four." He grinned. "You should have seen Winter after that battle. I spoke to her, and she was laughing so hard about it." And that's when Joe suddenly realised.

"Where is Winter?" He asked. He hadn't seen her at all in the group.

"She's outside." Joe's uncle told her. "She said she'd like to speak to you alone." Joe looked a little worried.

"Why?" He asked. His uncle winked, whipping away all concern he had started to feel.

"She said she wanted to talk to you in private." He said subtly. "We'll wait in here till you're ready to go." Joe smiled.

"Thanks uncle." He said.

"I'll talk to you afterwards." He uncle told him. "Now go on." Joe smiled at his friends, blushing a little. They had all turned up for him, to congratulate him. But his closest friend was waiting for him still.

"Stay here, Ralph." Joe told his companion. Ralph looked surprised. "She want me to see her alone. Don't worry, I'll be back in a minute." Ralph grinned back at him, knowing what he meant. Joe smiled back. Then he hurried out through the doorway and outside into the night.

Sure enough Winter was waiting for him. She was sitting on the bottom step up to the Indigo League, her coat lying beside her and her arms on her lap. She was watching the sun slowly begin to rise. Joe walked slowly up behind her and sat down on the step with her. She sighed.

"It's such a beautiful night." She told him, smiling. Joe looked out at the horizon.

"It is." He agreed.

They were quiet for a few seconds.

"I've never seen the sun come up." She said. "People always talk about how amazing, how romantic and how colourful it all is… but you never really believe that until you see it with your own eyes." She turned to Joe. "You were amazing today." She said. Joe smiled back.

"I just did my best." He said honestly. "Turns out my best was enough."

"I knew you could do it." She said. "I always knew. You struck me as a guy who would never let any obstacle stand in his way. You only just proved me right." Joe chuckled.

"You say that like I'm some kind of great hero." Joe told her. Winter began to chuckle with him.

"I guess I do." She agreed. They were quiet for a short time. "I'm so glad that we had this adventure." She took Joe's hand and held it in griped in her own. Joe looked down at them, then back up at her. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"I'm glad too." He said. They were quiet for a few seconds, then Joe asked "Hey Winter."

"Mm Hmm?"

"You remember at the Radio Tower?"

"Yeah?"

"When you, uh… you know?"

"Yeah?" Winter looked at him. Joe looked back. He fell a little quiet as he tried to find the right words.

"Was that a one off?" He asked.

"A one off?" Winter repeated.

"Yeah." Joe said, trying to make sense of gibberish. "A one off, like you were only thinking of doing it once." Winter laughed at him.

"No, Joe." She said with a blushing smile. "No, it wasn't a one off."

"Oh." Joe said. "So, does that mean you want to…" Winter leaned forwards and kissed him on the lips. Joe was a little stuck for words. "Uh…" He muttered. "You weren't kidding."

"No." Winter agreed, grinning happily. "Joe, I want to say something, and it's going to take me a lot of effort to say it…" She turned around, her whole body facing him, the boy she had been traveling with through this whole adventure. She went to speak, but Joe silenced her.

"I know what you're going to say." Joe told her. "So I'll say it for you." He placed his hand on her cheek and pulled her close. They kissed again, this time for a longer amount of time. When they finally pulled away Joe finished his sentence. "I love you, Winter Kitoshi." He said. Winter's smile was the biggest he'd ever seen. Her cheeks had gone bright pink.

"I love you too, Joseph Glende." She said elatedly.

Holding hands and staring into each other's eyes, they smiled and hugged one another, kissing once more as the sun rose up into a new day.


	42. Chapter 42: One Last Gift

**Here's the last chapter. It's been a long time coming, but finally I can rest. :) I would like to quickly say thank you for reading and please check out the end notes.**

* * *

 _\- One Month Later -_

"Happy Birthday, Joe!"

Joe grinned as he sat in his chair, his friends all around him, sitting on various other pieces of furniture. It was his birthday. He was fourteen. He, his family and friends were having a party at his uncle's farmhouse. They'd set up the living room to accommodate ten people and almost twenty pokémon. It was December 3rd. Outside the window snow had tried to fall, but inside it was warm and dry. Winter (the girl, not the time of year) sat to his left, and on his right was Ralph, curled up with his wings around him, warming as best he could by the fire. He still had the scar Charizard had left on his left wing. It had healed up well, but the mark was still there, a white line faded onto purple skin. He smiled warmly at Joe, happy for his friend. Joe smiled back. As for Winter, she was quite content at the moment. She was just happy to be with her closest friend. By this point they had pretty much confirmed their relationship. There hadn't been a public declaration or a post on a social media page, but their continuous presence together made it rather obvious. That and the occasional make out session. But even though they weren't as furious or obvious as other couples they were clearly happy together. This was the first time either of them had been in a relationship. It was a new experience for them both, and they were still trying to get used to the idea. Over the passing month they'd been trying the idea out, in one or two imaginative ways. Nothing risqué, mind you. All PG13. But the true testament between them was that, beyond everything they'd been through, they'd still pulled through together.

The rest of the seats in the room were taken up by his uncle, Rocky, Tom, Silver and Crystal. Taking up the rest of the space in the room were Joe's other pokémon. Pippy, Blitz and Azi were sat around the lit fireplace, warming their furry bodies up a few degrees Celsius. Carter, Joe's Hitmonlee, stood motionless with his arms folded beside his uncle, like the statue of a butler, waiting for his next instruction. Around his feet Mango, Walker's mankey, danced, trying to pester the larger fighting type into reacting, but Carter was giving him no response. By Winter's lap sat Starmie, and Rocky had brought Eli the drowzee with him to the party. As for Silver, he had let out his eight foot tall blue killer croc. Feraligatr was only just able to stand up, but he had to hold his head low in order to do so. Outside the window Cyclone and Sirena peered in, unable to fit inside and having to enjoy themselves through a half open pane of glass. As for the rest of the pokémon, they were all standing at the back of the room, somewhere between the living room and the kitchen, all smiling and happy. Leaf, Quill and Terrence, as well as Pitt and Cinders, watched from the back wall. Joe couldn't stop grinning.

"You're not fourteen every day." Walker stated proudly. Joe chuckled.

"No." He agreed. "But it's no real milestone. It's not like I'm eighteen, or even sixteen." Walker shrugged.

"Still, it's a milestone to us." He told him. "Considering the kind of adventures you've been having, you're pretty lucky to be here to celebrate your birthday at all." His dark comment dropped the mood a little. Joe quickly moved on.

He set to opening his presents, which he'd been given by his friends and family. First one was from Rocky. It was a collection of pokeball stickers, each showing a different type emblem; a flame for fire, a droplet for water, a leaf for grass, a bolt of lightning for electric, and so on. The idea was that after Joe caught a pokémon he placed a relevant sticker onto the ball, so that he knew which pokeball held which pokémon. Joe was surprised such a thing existed. He'd always kept his pokeballs in the order he caught them on his belt, so that he never mixed them up. It seemed to work for him, but now this would make it much easier, and he'd be less likely to confuse them.

"Thanks, Rocky." He said, placing the present beside him a smile. Rocky smiled and nodded back.

"You're welcome." He said. "I spotted them in a pokémart in Violet City. Thought it'd come in rather helpful in the future."

"It will. "Joe agreed. Deciding he ought to use one of the stickers now, he reached for his pokeball belt. Because he only had Ralph's pokeball on him right now, he decided to test them on that. He unclipped the white ball from his belt and placed it on his lap. Ralph watched in interested curiosity as Joe placed two stickers onto the white shell. The poison sticker and the flying sticker. Only instead of placing them next to each other, he placed them slightly on top of each other. The result was that the stickers sort of mixed, creating the image of a toxic skull with a single wing at the back. Ralph seemed to like this design. It suited him quite well, especially with the purple and sky blue on white and red.

Joe moved on to the next present, which was from Tom. Joe opened it, only to find a black hoodie of his size inside the box, along with a black and red hat, with a white pokeball logo on it.

"I had it made myself." Tom told him with a smile. "Being the Kanto Champion gives me a few rights to certain privileges." Joe lifted the jumper up out of the box. It looked like it might be a little tight, but he knew he'd get used to it.

"Thanks, Tom." He said. Tom chuckled.

"Think nothing of it." He said cheerfully. "And happy birthday!"

Joe moved on to his next present, which came from Silver. Feraligatr passed it to him, arching his back and holding his head low so he didn't damage the roof. He held out a small unwrapped box to Joe, who took it with a slightly confused look. Without a pause he opened it up. Inside, glistening like a fallen star turned into a piece of jewellery, was Silver's ring, the one he'd been wearing all through the adventure. It was the same one that Silver had used to knock Joe out when they first met. He'd forgotten all about it. He subconsciously stoked his cheek in the area the punch had been. Thankfully Silver had come to use it less as they got to know him. Joe looked up.

"Silver, are you trying to propose?" He asked, smirking a little. There was a laugh from the rest of the group. Silver coughed, trying not to snicker at him.

"No!" He stated quickly. "No. I'm giving it to you. I want you to keep it." Joe was a little surprised.

"But, this is yours." He said. "Why are you giving it to me? I thought you said this was all you have left of your family."

"Yeah." Silver agreed. "But I don't want it anymore. I don't need it. I'm done holding on to the past. I'm gonna try and focus more on now, and the future." He smiled at the floor. Crystal put her arm around his shoulders in proud comfort. Joe nodded slowly.

"Well, if you're sure you're okay with that." He said.

"Trust me, you'll probably find a better use for it." Silver told him with a small smile.

"I'd like to look at it at some point." Walker told them. "I'd be interested in seeing exactly how it works. From what Joe told me it sounds like such an odd item to be left by a parent." Joe nodded. He would let his uncle see it after the party had ended. Now it was Winter's turn to hand him her present.

"This cost me over one-hundred pokedollars!" She told him as he unwrapped the present. Inside the parcel was small, hand sized, golden yellow electronic device. It looked like some kind multi-function cell phone, except that there was no signal antennae attached and no visible screen. Joe picked it up. It was light, and it didn't feel metallic. The shell was actually tough plastic with a metal shine on it to look like real metal. He looked it over for a bit. It was definitely not a flip up phone. There was no section to flip up. There was also nothing on the back, no screen, no buttons, nothing but a flat black plastic side.

"What is it?" Joe asked, a little confused. Winter smiled at it.

"It's a PokéNav." She explained. "It's a device for trainers used in the Hoenn region. It's supposed to be a phone, phonebook, map, pokémon talent checker and media outlet all in one pocket sized machine." Joe looked at her.

"Pokémon Talent Checker?" He asked confused.

"It's something to do with the competitions they have over there." Winter explained. "It supposedly shows where a pokémon's skills lie so a trainer can improve on them properly if they want to."

"Sounds like it's not so much my thing." He told her.

"Well you don't have to use that function." She reminded him. "It's got a phone and video call system, so you can keep in touch with me more." Joe raised an eyebrow.

"You have one of these yourself?" He asked. Winter responded by pulling out her own golden skinned PokéNav.

"I sure did." She told him. "Like I said, it cost me over 100 poke."

"How do I work it?" He asked.

"Pressed the big blue button." She told him. Joe pressed the button in. The top half of the PokeNav popped up and a small screen flicked out from under it, flashing and suddenly turning on. A menu popped up on it, listing all the functions to pick from. Joe hummed in surprise.

"Okay." He said. "Seems like it'd be quite useful."

"So that's a thank you I'm waiting for." Winter said quietly. Joe smiled back at her.

"Thank you Winter." He said to her. She smiled happily back.

"You're welcome." She said.

"Just one present left." Walker interrupted. They all turned back to the only adult in the room. Joe's uncle pulled out something he'd been hiding in his pocket. He leaned forwards and passed it to Joe. The boy took it. It was an envelope, with nothing but his full name, _'Joseph Derek Arthur Glende'_ , written on it. "It's a letter." Walker explained. He paused for a second. "From your father."

Joe looked up. "My father?" He asked. Walker nodded.

"He left it with me before he died. He asked me to hand it to you when you were ready to read it." He explained. "And I think that today is that the day you deserve to see it." Joe looked at the Envelope. It was a slightly dirty white, nothing to odd or unusual about it. He opened it quickly and pulled out the condense. All that was inside was a small piece of tough card. Joe turned it over. Words were on the back. He read them aloud.

'Mrs Catherine Green. Number 22, Sundown Lane, Cherrygrove city, Johto, JT2 9CC' Joe looked up from the paper slowly. "What is this?" He asked.

Joe's uncle paused shortly. "It's an address." He explained. "You're mother's address."

Joe's mouth slowly fell open. "My mother." He repeated. Walker nodded, a slightly sad expression on his face.

"Your father found out she was still alive, but he never got the chance to tell you." He explained. "That address will lead you to her house, in Cherrygrove City. He wanted you to have the chance to meet her." Joe dropped the piece of paper. It flutter down to his lap. His mouth was hanging slightly open.

"My mother's still alive." He muttered. He didn't seem able to comprehend it. Both of his parents had been alive all this time, and he'd never know. Walker sighed.

"I know it's a rather big surprise…" He said as kindly as he could. "But I think you should go and meet her. She doesn't know you're still alive either." He looked at the stunned boy. "I just thought it might be worth it." He said quietly. "At least know you know that your parents were alive." Joe looked at the paper, reading it once more to check he hadn't misread any of it, that he wasn't somehow imagining this.

"That's her name?" He asked. "Catherine Green?" Walker nodded.

"Your father and mother never married." He explained. "So she kept her surname." Joe looked back up at him. "You don't have to go if you don't want to." Walker told him. "I just thought you deserved to know."

Ralph put his wing around Joe's shoulder as he and Winter looked at the paper themselves. The others were trying to get a look out of curiosity, but Joe was sat too far away and they didn't want to crowd him.

"I don't know." Joe muttered. He was clearly very stunned and very confused by this news. "I just… I need some time." He told him. Walker nodded respectfully.

"Of course." He said. "Take as much time as you need to think about it. It's your choice." He stood up. "I'll get the food." He said, changing the subject and stepping out of the room. Everyone else sat in silence. All of them were looking at Joe. Joe himself didn't know what to do. He sat there, his friends around him, staring down at the piece of paper with his mother's name and location on it.

* * *

The day passed by, and for the rest of it Joe remained the same. He barely spoke, except to answer if he was okay, which he did so automatically with a 'yes' answer. He sat at the table barely eating as the food was served, resting his head with his elbow on the table. Eventually the others had to leave before it got too dark. When they were gone Joe decided he was tired. He would think more about his choice tomorrow. He'd let his mind think it over as he slept. Unfortunately it turned out he didn't get much of a chance for that.

The second his eyes closed in an attempt for sleep he reopened them to find himself in the grassy clearing once more. With a resigned sigh he looked up. Mew and Celebi were floating in front of him.

"Okay, so I'm here again." He said with submissive tiredness. "What's the problem now?" Mew flicked its tail.

 _"_ _Actually there's no problem."_ It told him. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"No 'Team Rocket is actually still out there' speech for me?" He asked. Mew shook its head. "No giant titan pokémon I need to stop?" He asked. Again Mew shook its head. "Then why am I hear again?" Joe asked.

Mew and Celebi glanced at each other for a second, as if to check something. _"We just wanted to say, on behalf of Arceus and all the other legendary pokémons… thank you."_ Mew stated. _"Without your efforts we dread to imagine what would have happened."_ Joe looked at the two legendary pokémons.

"You're welcome." He said, slightly unsure. "Why are you thanking me now, though? Why not the day after the fight? Why did you wait this long?" Mew glanced at Celebi.

 _"_ _We've actually been considering something."_ Celebi explained.

"Considering what?" Joe asked, confused. The two legendary pokémon looked at each other, unsure if what they were doing was a good idea.

 _"_ _We give our condolences for your father."_ Mew told him quickly. _"We understand that you must be finding it tough_." He paused. _"We also know about your mother. Whatever choice you make, we hope you live happily because of it."_

Well, thank you." Joe said a little hesitantly. "So what exactly where you planning for me?" He asked. Mew gulped.

 _"_ _We're very grateful for what you and your friends did for us."_ It told him. _"We have seen the world Archer's destruction would cause, and that's why we were looking for a hero. When we found you we had started to lose hope. But then we saw how you dealt with two simple rocket grunts, and with every other trainer in your way. You were determined, confident, cunning and kind. And that's why we picked you this time. It just happened to turn out you were the right choice. We understand that in choosing you we caused a lot of problems for you, a lot of unnecessary pain and anger that you could have done for that, and we are sorry for the things you have been through. I would like you to understand that everything you went through made you the hero we needed you to be."_ Mew paused. _"So there's one last thing we would like to do for you, in respect for everything you've done."_

Joe looked at the floating pink mouse. "Alright." He said. "And what is that?"

Celebi stepped forwards now, looking Joe in the eyes as it did so. _"Would you like to meet the man who killed Sting?"_ It asked.

Joe was quiet. His expression dropped two feet from the ground. The area they stood in was dead silent for a while. Celebi blinked.

 _"_ _We, that is, us legendries, always knew who killed him."_ It explained. _"We would have told you, but it was imperative to your success that you didn't know, otherwise you would have been hunting them down, and not Team Rocket."_

"So Team Rocket didn't kill Sting?" Joe asked. Mew and Celebi nodded sadly. Joe hated to admit it, but a part of him had always guessed that. Even when he dies, Rocky had told him it wasn't them, but he'd ignored him, thinking he knew better. It turned out he was wrong. He had overreacted. The figure he'd seen on the rooftop that day, there was no evidence to show they were with Team Rocket. Joe looked up. "So why are you telling me now?" He asked.

 _"_ _Because your job is done."_ Mew explained. _"You have done what we needed you to do, and you succeeded. We are forever grateful to you, but now we do not need your help. As a result we decided that now you deserve to know everything."_

Joe seemed to understand. "Do I want to know who did it?" He asked.

 _"_ _No."_ Mew told him. _"The answer is quite destressing, but you deserve to know it."_ Mew looked Joe in the eyes. _"Whenever you're ready, Celebi will show you. Just say when."_ Joe looked at the floor, thinking about what he wanted.

"And what if I don't want to know?" He asked suddenly. Mew seemed surprised.

 _"_ _I thought you did want to know?"_ It said.

"Just suppose that, for some reason, I may not want to." Joe told it. "Would I be able to just forget about it? Would I be allowed to just go and never learn what really happened?" Mew and Celebi looked at each other.

 _"_ _That's something you'd want?"_ Celebi asked. _"We're offering you a chance to see who killed your pokémon. Why would you turn that down?"_

Joe looked at the two of them. He knew the reason, but he wasn't sure how he could explain it. It made sense to him. Hopefully it'd make sense to them. "I'm tired of blaming my past for my troubles." He said simply. "I'm done looking back at what went wrong. I'm done being upset over something behind me. I just want to look ahead now. I want to look forwards, to everything around me now and everything in my future. That's all I want to see now. The past is the past. It should stay there."

Mew and Celebi actually seemed very surprised by that response. They were a little speechless, but not because what they'd heard was bad or ridiculous. They were stunned because it made sense.

 _"_ _My friend..."_ Mew muttered. _"You surprise even me. You're sure that you don't want to know?"_

Joe nodded. "There's nothing I could gain from knowing who killed Sting, but hatred and anger for that person." He explained. "Whatever happened, I want to forget it. Sting is gone, I can't bring him back. It's time to move on." Mew blinked a few times.

 _"_ _Very well."_ It stated. _"This is your choice, so we'll respect it."_ Joe smiled back at them.

"Thank you." He told them.

 _"_ _That's all we wanted to say."_ Mew told him. _"We promise that we shall no longer bother you with visions or devout quests. From here on out your life is your own, and you are free to do with it what you want."_

 _"_ _I'd just like to say this quickly."_ Celebi interrupted. It floated a little closer. _"Even without us guiding your path, there is much in your future that lies ahead, and not all of it is good."_ It explained quietly. _"Your adventures aren't over. There's still more that will come, and eventually some very serious choices will have to be made, by you and by your pokémon. We can no longer help you anymore, you must go through all this by yourself."_ Joe looked at the legendary time traveling pokémon.

"I can handle whatever comes at me." He explained. Celebi smiled.

 _"_ _I'm sure you can."_ Celeb told him. _"You have strong, smart friends beside you. Some closer than others. One may end up being even closer to you than she already is"_

Joe gulped. "You mean winter and I…?" He asked shyly. Celebi chuckled.

 _"_ _I can't tell you that."_ It told him. _"That would spoil it for you."_ Joe narrowed his eyes.

"You're a real killjoy." He muttered. Celebi laughed at him.

 _"_ _It's my job I'm afraid."_ It explained. _"I cannot tell you what is coming up. The laws of time state that I must never tell anyone of what will happen to them, only that I can point them on the right path if I must. Sorry, but you'll have to go through it all yourself."_ Joe curled his lip in irritation.

"Great." He muttered. "That means any tough stuff I can't prepare for."

 _"_ _That's life for you."_ Celebi said. _"But for what it's worth, I wish you good luck, and thank you for everything you have done for us."_ Celebi took a few floating steps back now.

 _"_ _Whenever you're ready, you can wake up."_ Mew told him. As it said so, the world began to blur and fade away. _"Good luck, Mr Glende."_ The legendary's voice echoed as Joe's mind returned to reality.

Joe sat up, fully awake. It was morning again. The sun was glancing through his pulled curtains, providing some form of light in his untidy room. He sighed, rubbing his stiff face to wake himself up a little. He didn't waste much time getting up. He threw his clothes on in a hurry, rushed down the stairs and hurried out the door with Ralph following him. He was going to find his girlfriend.

Winter was currently staying at the pokémon centre in Viridian City. Joe's Uncle Walker had been able to pay for her time there out of pure kindness, so Joe could go see her whenever he wanted to. That was the first place he headed. He and Ralph landed in the city to find Winter already up and about. It was around 9 in the morning and she'd gone for a short walk in the park. Joe rushed over to her and before they knew it there were sitting at a bench talking.

"So you had another vision?" Winter repeated after Joe had finished his quick story.

"Yeah." Joe said. "My last one. From now on they won't bother me again."

"I thought they said that last time?" Winter realised. Joe shrugged.

"They probably did." He agreed. "Hopefully they'll keep to their word from now on."

"Well, now you're free from all that finally." Winter said hopefully, hugging her boyfriend a little closer. "You should be thankful. Now you're less likely to get dragged into another great crisis." Joe chuckled a little. That chuckled faded as his eyes turned to the sedgy floor. Celebi had suggested that more would happen. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly it had meant. Was it suggesting that something as bad as Team Rocket was waiting for him in the future? He hoped not. He was done with being a hero for now. He wanted to live a relatively normal life from here on out. "Have you decided yet?" Winter asked suddenly.

"You mean about whether I want to meet my mother?" Joe asked, looking up at her. Winter nodded. "I don't know." Joe admitted. "I'm not sure. I'm really happy to know she's still alive, like my father was, but at the same time I'm worried."

"Why?" Winter asked. Joe sighed.

"I'm worried she'll be like Cheng." He admitted. Winter put a hand on the boys shoulder.

"She won't be that bad." She old him encouragingly. "And anyway, Cheng wasn't that bad when we realised who he was. He tried to change, and he nearly did in the end."

"He gave up his own life just to save us." Joe muttered.

"Exactly." Winter stated. She smiled at him.

"But Cheng changed because of me." Joe told her. "What if she's actually worse than he was?"

"You won't know that till you meet her." She stated truthfully. "You've been given the chance to find your other parent. If I were in your position I'd jump at the chance." He smiled back at her.

"I forget sometimes that you're an orphan like me." He admitted. She chuckled.

"To be fair, you've never met my family." She told him with a grin. "I've met both your father and uncle. You're still many steps ahead of me. I can't exactly bring you home to meet my parents, or guardian." Joe chuckled also.

"Though you'd probably try." He joked. She thumped his shoulder with a light-hearted punch.

"Shut up, you clown." They laughed for a little while, before falling silent again.

"Thank you, Winter." Joe said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, you'd still be single." She told him. Joe gave her a cheeky stare.

"You can't guarantee that." He stated humorously. She nudged him again.

"Stop it already." She giggled, blushing slightly. "You know you're a real pest when you want to be." Joe smiled happily at the auburn girl beside him. Her smile made his heart warm up.

"Will you come with me?" He asked. "To meet my mother?"

Winter smiled back. "Sure." She told him quickly. "I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"Great." Joe said. "I'd like you to be there. It'd help. I'd feel a little unsure meeting her for the first time by myself." Winter took his hand.

"If you want me to come with you, I'll come with you." She stated simply. "Just ask and I'll answer." Joe smiled at her.

"Thank you Winter." They touched foreheads for a second, before standing up. "Come on then." He said. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

As Joe flew into Johto on Ralph's back, Winter sat behind him with her arms wrapped around his chest, he felt that a stage of his life was ending. He realised as they flew through the sky that he was becoming a new person. He was leaving childhood behind him and taking steps forwards into becoming a man. Winter could see that, that's why she trusted him so much. That's why she like him too, most likely. He still had a long way to go before he became an adult, say four or five years or so, but he was already starting to really grow up.

Ralph touched down in Cherrygrove city, a town they'd originally passed through very quickly on their first adventure through Johto. In fact they'd missed quite a few things because of Team Rocket. They'd never properly checked out the ruins of Alph, or seen the Kimono girls dance at their hall in Ecruteak City. They'd also never checked out Bellsprout tower in Violet City. Apparently that place was quite interesting, so long as you didn't suffer from vertigo. The singular pillar holding the entire structure up had a tendency to wobble. The city was quite nice it turned out. The buildings were small but simple and scenic. They were made of an attractive light brown rock, similar to the colour of sand, and the roads were a light coloured brick alignment. The far west side was a beach, leading out to the open ocean and far off into the horizon. There wasn't much sun, but the small amount that was shining through the clouds made the water glisten like a wave of blue gemstones. It was spectacular. Joe took in a minute to absorb the surroundings. He wasn't in a rush. He had all day to do what he had to. But eventually he decided he had spent enough time stalling. Gathering his two friends they began looking around for the right address.

After a few minutes of looking around they eventually found the house they were looking for. Number 22, Sundown Lane. Joe lowered the piece of paper into his jumper pocket. He inhaled nervously.

"This is the house." He said.

"It'll go fine." Winter told him kindly. He smiled at her and Ralph. They waited behind him as he fulfilled his father's last gift.

"Well…" Joe muttered. "Here goes." He raised a hand up, paused for a few seconds out of nerves, and then gently knocked thrice on the wooded door. There was no immediate response, so he waited. After five seconds he tried again. This time he heard something. A woman's muffled voice on the other side shouted at them.

"Just wait a second!" Joe gulped, feeling a small amount of nerves rush up him. There was the following sound of things being moved around, and something possibly dropping with an exclamatory yell of annoyance afterwards. Then footsteps on wood getting closer approached him. He took a step back, as the door was opened inwards. "Sorry about that. I was just moving a few…" The woman in the doorway stopped as she saw the two teenagers and one large purple bat standing in her doorway. "Oh." She said, a little surprised.

Joe swallowed, steeling his nerves. "Hello." He said

"Hi." The woman said, confused. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Mrs Catherine Green?" Joe asked, his nerves spiking a little. The woman nodded.

"That is me." She said, looking at the boy in her doorway with a muddled expression.

She had not been how Joe was expecting. He knew that a child would always resemble their parents in certain ways, but he hadn't shared much in similarity to Cheng. It appeared that he had gotten it mostly from his mother. Catherine Green had the same face as him, almost exactly. She had the same eyes, the same nose, the same ears, the same chin. The only thing that was different was her hair, which was strawberry blonde, but it was quite clearly died that way so it was possible she had originally been brown haired too. Her hair was cut down to the nape of her neck, surprisingly short for her gender but it suited her well. Joe took out the piece of paper from his pocket.

"I was sent to find you." He explained. "By Enlai Cheng."

"I don't know that name." She said, still listening to what he was saying.

"Apparently he changed his name." Joe told her quickly. "He used to be called Fraser Glende." Mrs Green's eyes lit up a little.

"Oh." She muttered. "I see." She looked at the boy and his companions. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name."

"My name is Joe." Joe told her. My friend is Winter, and the crobat is Ralph."

"Hi." Winter said.

"Cro." Ralph said.

Mrs Green nodded. "Hello." She said back. She chuckled a little. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect this." She muttered. "I haven't spoken with Fraser in ages. Why didn't he come find me himself?" Joe looked awkwardly at the floor.

"I'm sorry…" He said slightly abashed. "I'm afraid he died over a month ago." Mrs Green's hands fell to her side. She sighed.

"I can't say I'm too surprised." She muttered to herself, not realising Joe had heard her. She looked up. "Would you like to come inside?" She asked.

Joe glanced back at Winter and Ralph. They nodded to him. "Thank you very much." He said.

Mrs Green stepped back and let the trio inside. Ralph had a little struggle as he had to be aware a lot of the furniture and ornaments to avoid knocking them over. But they managed to get inside and sit down at a nice cream coloured sofa. The house was small on the outside, but even smaller on the inside. This was mainly because a large amount of furniture, boxes and other large things filled up most of the space. Joe, Winter and Ralph sat down while Mrs Green headed into the small kitchen.

"Would any of you like a drink?" She asked. Her head appeared around the doorway. "I have Coffee, or tea if you prefer." Winter and Joe looked at each other quickly.

"We're good." Winter told her.

"Okay." Mrs Green's head disappeared around the corner again. The sound of the kettle switching on could be heard, and then the slow bubbling of the water began. Joe looked around the room a bit. The walls were a weird mix of sea blue and white. The bottom half of the walls were painted white up until a point, where blue then took over. It appeared to be mimicking the ocean in some way, which was appropriate considering the view out of the window. The walls even had oceanic artwork lining it, using several various art styles, including watercolour and even stencil outlining. On the windowsill and coffee table sat several photo frames with various images. Most of them seemed to be of Mrs Catherine Green, with other people. A few of them were of her with one specific man, a man that was not Joe's father.

"Did you know him very well?" Joe asked.

"Who, Fraser?" Mrs Green asked from the other room. "Oh yes, he was my…" She paused, the bubbling of the boiling water filling up the empty sound in the cramped space. "Friend." She finished. Joe knew that she wasn't being honest. If she was his mother she'd have to be more than just his 'friend'. He noticed another photo. This was of Mrs Green and another boy, around the age of nine or so.

"Do you live here alone?" Joe asked.

"Currently." Mrs Green called back. "I have a son, but he's studying pokémon with his dad in Hoenn right now. I don't know when they'll be back." Joe glanced at the photo again. So he had a brother, and the boy in this image was probably him. Joe wondered when he'd get to meet him, if he ever did. "So why did Mr Glende send you?" Mrs Green asked suddenly, turning the corner with a mug of hot tea and a glass of water. "I made you a drink just in case." She told him. Joe took the glass, but did not drink from it.

"He and I bumped into each other." He explained. "A month or so before he passed. He was… working, and… I kind of just bumped into him." He bit his lip at that sentence. It was too blatantly false. Mrs Green nodded uncertainly.

"Right." She said. "I didn't know he still had a job." She looked up sharply. "He was still in Team Rocket, wasn't he?" She said. Joe nodded sadly. "That rat." She muttered. "So you didn't just bump into him, did you?" She realised. Joe shook his head."

"No." He agreed. "My friends and I were helping stop Team Rocket. He just happened to be one of their commanders." Mrs Green raised her eyebrow.

"Then why are you visiting a Rocket Commander's widow?" She asked. Joe gulped.

"I wasn't actually sent by him." Joe admitted. "Commander Cheng just left me your address." He showed her the paper. "I was actually sent by my uncle." Mrs Green took the piece of paper. She saw Cheng's signature at the bottom of it, guaranteeing that it was indeed him that had written it there. She looked up at Joe again.

"Who's your uncle?" She asked. Joe took a deep breath. He knew that this would probably drop the bomb.

"Walker Glende." He said. Mrs Green was quiet. She looked at the boy, her eyes widening slightly.

"Fraser's younger brother." She muttered. "He's your uncle." Joe nodded.

"Yes." He told her.

Catherine Green placed her mug down on the table. "Then that means…" She looked up, straight into Joe's eyes. His blue eyes met hers. Suddenly she realised. "No…" She muttered, stunned. "No way…" Joe could feel his nerves spiking a little. Mrs Green looked at the boy. "You can't be…" She cut herself off. "You're him, aren't you?" She said. Joe nodded slowly. Catherine Green gasped quietly. A smile grew onto her face. "You're my son!" She exclaimed.

"Hi, mum." Joe muttered. Mrs Green grinned uncontrollable. A tear began to form in her eye.

"I never thought I'd see you again." She muttered. "Where have you been? What happened?"

"I thought you knew." Joe said. Mrs Green shook her head.

"No. Fraser just took off one day with you. He never told me where he was going. He never came back. You and he disappeared completely. I never found you again." She wiped her eyes. "I can't believe you're still alive after all this time." She muttered, tears running down her cheeks, biting her knuckle with the inability to control her amazement and happiness.

"My uncle took care of me." Joe explained. "My father left me with him. He knew that he couldn't take care of him, still being a part of Team Rocket. He knew that my uncle could look after me. He knew he'd be a better parent." Catherine nodded.

"Yep, that sounds like Walker alright." She muttered. He voice began to crack. "I'm sorry, I just… I can't believe this." She said as she sobbed with Joe. "I can't believe you found me, after so long." She stood up. "My son. My little boy."

Joe stood up, tears appearing in his own eyes. "Mum." He muttered.

The two of them hugged, embracing each other close in a tight grip. Joe cuddled his mother for the first time that he could remember. He could never have believed that his adventures would lead him to this. No one could have convinced him at the beginning that he would eventually find both his parents again. But right now that didn't matter. Finally, after everything he had suffered through, after every long and arduous trial heed passed, after every friend he'd lost, after every opponent he'd defeated, after every champion he'd dethroned… he finally had a family.

* * *

 **Okay, so I'd like to say very quickly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for following, reading, reviewing, favoriting, even just checking out this story. All the feedback, advice and nice comments I get for writing this stuff has helped me grow as a writer and even a little as a human being, and has built up my own confidence in my work. So yeah, once again, thank you too all my followers, friends and fans.**

 **I'd also like to quickly apologist for the address format I use in these stories. I would use the american Zip Code format, but I haven't really figured out how it works, so as such I have to resort to the British/European format Postcode (The whole JT2 9CC thing. JT obviously stands for Johto in this case.)**

 **Now I'd like to quickly talk about what I'm doing next:**

 **Obviously, if you've been following the work I'm doing with LucarioMaster41, I'm going to be continuing the story I'm working on with him. I don't know how long that will go on for but hopefully I can finish it by the end of the year. If you're interested in checking it out the link is bellow.**

 _ **(Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rivals:** **story/43551904-pokemon-mystery-dungeon-rivals-pokemon-watty)**_

 **As for what I have planned next... I don't know. I do have a few ideas, but none of them are confirmed just yet and honestly I'm pretty tired of writing right now. First I'm going to spend a few weeks to rest my fingers and finish my university work. Come June I may come back with a new story, but again no promises. I am also still working on my own personally story outside of , which you can also check out if you want.**

 _ **(The Anti-Heroes [By Joseph Green]: stories/40458)**_

 **I'm going to talk quickly about what stories I may do next, if indeed I do decide to come back. I am, of course, considering the idea of a third Crobat Chronicles story. I already have a lot of ideas planned for it, and of course I put open ends and details in this chapter that I can easily continue on from if I want to. Otherwise I feel that this ending is the best open way I can leave it. There doesn't have to be a sequel if I don't feel it needs one. If I do go through with a sequel then, again, it'll be set in another region. I won't clarify which here, but you can probably guess which one yourselves. As for characters (I will say this now) I plan on leaving out almost all of the original main characters. Yep. If I do a sequel, it will have a new cast, for the most part. Does this mean Joe and Ralph won't be there? Well... No guarantees. Any changes I will make in a possible sequel will all be for a reason, and not every character will be left out completely, I can guarantee that.**

 **As for any other ideas I have planned, I can only really talk about one. Possibly when Gen 7 is finally revealed I might start writing a story based around the XD and Colosseum game series. Because these are two games I personally love to bits I felt I could try my hand at the idea of a sequel to XD. Of course it wouldn't be official, but it would be fun. I already have a lot of the plot and character ideas planned out, but creating a list of shadow pokemon won't be possible until Gen 7 is revealed, of course. I do also have another idea of doing a completely original pokemon story, set in a new region with pokemon from gens 1-6 in it, with new characters, new enemies and a whole new landscape and mythology to explore. I've been talking with my friend Stardustdragon2011 about possibly doing a collaboration on the idea, and he seems pretty interested. Again, this isn't confirmed, I can't guarantee that I'm coming back to this stuff just yet, but these are still ideas I'd like to possibly write. Let me know if you'd actually be interested in reading one of these stories. If I can get enough following for one then I might give it a go. But right now I need a rest.**

 **So, what's happening for me next?:**

 **Honestly, I dunno quite yet. Like I said I have University work and my own story to finish before I can think of anything else to do with FF. But I have been considering a few other things. One major thing I'm planning to do is start a YouTube channel. If your curious I'm planning on becoming a reviewer for Films, TV shows and games from the early 2000. Nothing new, I know, but it'll give me something to work on long period and I can share my sarcastic opinions with the world. Do I expect to become famous? No, don't be silly. It'll probably just be a hobby and not something I work on every day, but it could be fun. So, because this is something I'm planning, I'm going to change my FF name to something a bit better.** **My new profile name is RadsGoesToHell, which is also what I'll be naming my YouTube channel if I do indeed start that up. I'm sorry if I offend any of you with the title, if I do I'm probably a heathen. It is just meant to be a dark joke about life, but hey ho what can you do about that?**

 **So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say here. Once again, thank you to everyone who's supported me, both here and and in real life.**

 **J out.**

 **No, sorry. I'm gonna need a new outro if I'm changing my profile name. How about this.**

 **"Rads Out!"**


	43. Update

**Thank you for reading this story all the way through. I've just started writing a small spin off story set after this one.**

 **It's called Pokemon, The Crobat Chronicles: Ralph's Origin. Go give it a read you want to know about an important character's past.**

 **Otherwise, thanks for all the support.**


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